My father's parents met on the boat when they both travelled with their families to the U.S. from Norway. They married and learned English living here in Wisconsin. My grandmother (my mother's mother) grew up speaking German in the home. Both of her parents were born in Germany and she arrived here as a child. When my grandmother got old she could only speak in German because she forgot her English entirely. My Grandfather on my mother's side was half English, half Ojibwa (Wisconsin Chippewa). His brother was hung for stealing a horse. None of them, absolutely NONE of them would speak ANYTHING but English in view of anyone and forced their kids to speak ONLY English. During those years, immigrants who spoke in any language other than English were frowned upon, considered low-class, and often considered uneducated. European table manners were quickly dropped for the same reason. Amazing today to even think of it but I remember hearing my grandmother berate my father even as an adult for things that he said or did that appeared too European. I overheard my grandparents talking poorly about families that were considred 'white trash' because they kept their culture after they moved here.



>>I was referring to the language:)
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>I knew that, but I couldn't help myself. I'm weak sometimes in the pun department.
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>>So I assume both are doing fine:) Toronto has a large romanian community I heard. Many romanians have been moving to Canada and Toronot is one of the main destination (Montreal/Quebec the other).
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>Unfortunately, I speak only one language - English (of a sort). My mother's parents originally came to Canada (Montreal) in the early 1900's (my mother was born in 1919). They moved to Toronto when she was about 2 years old. My dad's parents came to Canada around the turn of the century (sometime around 1900) with the original wave of Dukhobors that settled in Saskatchewan. He moved to Winnipeg when he was in his teens, and to Toronto in his 20's.
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>I really have no connection with either the Russians or the Romanians in Toronto. I mean, I may know the odd person who is one or the other, but it's coincidental.
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>Growing up, I had a much greater connection to the Jewish community in Toronto, but as people do, we grew up and apart. My friends now constitute all cultures and walks of life (well, ok, maybe not all). I'm really not much of a joiner and I don't find myself gravitating to any particular ethnic or cultural group. I guess I've never really felt that I will necessarily find commonality with someone else just because we have ancestors who lived in the same part of the world, or who spoke the same language. I'd much rather just take people as I find them, and go from there. Kind of like people who join, say, a corvette club. After you've talked about your cars ad-nauseum, what's left?