Back in the day, I dated a guy whose parents were from the Netherlands and he only spoke Dutch until he went to kindergarten. As his father told me, on that day they quit speaking Dutch and switched to English only. So, my high school German got us from Fulda, Germany to Schagen, The Netherlands on trains, hydroplane and cabs since he didn't remember any of his Dutch. I think that by the time we left I was understands WAY more than he was.




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>>I understand your point and the sadness of losing a language of your ancestry. Kind of like my people lost Yiddish (that was spoken in my home when I was growing up).
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>One of the biggest regrets of my life (and I think many of my generation) is that I never learned Yiddish. My mother spoke it with her parents and (to some extent) with her sister. I don't think my father spoke much, even though his parents were the immigrants. It was never spoken in the house - all I ever learned were a couple of phrases.
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>I've spoken with many of my Spanish and Vietnamese co-workers and it seems that they are repeating my experience. The third generation is losing the mother tongue - although I think not quite to the extent the we did.
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>>Funny that my daughters also took French and can get by in it. But both now admit that they would be better off taking Spanish. This is why I am learning both Spanish and French :)