Jon Hra: I am in a “predominately Hispanic congregation” over half of whom cannot speak fluent Spanish – and some of those who can have English, German, or French surnames and learned it as a second language.
My parents came here from PR and only knew Spanish, so we grew up only speaking Spanish at home. When my older brother started school, the teacher sent a note home and said that he could not continue to attend class unless he spoke only English. So he refused to listen to anything my parents said to him in Spanish and would only speak to them in English. Eventually, he forgot the Spanish. I was lucky. I continued to talk to my parents in Spanish and to my brother in English and learned the best of both worlds. Unfortunately, since I have no one to speak Spanish with any longer, I lost the conversational part of it, but I can understand every single word in a Spanish conversation.
I did not speak English when I started Kindergarten, but soon learned. It’s easy at that age. I grew up fluent in two languages and have since added several more. I spoke to my parents in English, and to my grandparents in Ukrainian. It would have been extremely rude to speak English to them. Growing up bilingual is an incredible advantage.
rshive over 11 years ago
Probably a dialect that Cafe Alexa doesn’t speak.
hippogriff over 11 years ago
Jon Hra: I am in a “predominately Hispanic congregation” over half of whom cannot speak fluent Spanish – and some of those who can have English, German, or French surnames and learned it as a second language.
starlilies over 11 years ago
My parents came here from PR and only knew Spanish, so we grew up only speaking Spanish at home. When my older brother started school, the teacher sent a note home and said that he could not continue to attend class unless he spoke only English. So he refused to listen to anything my parents said to him in Spanish and would only speak to them in English. Eventually, he forgot the Spanish. I was lucky. I continued to talk to my parents in Spanish and to my brother in English and learned the best of both worlds. Unfortunately, since I have no one to speak Spanish with any longer, I lost the conversational part of it, but I can understand every single word in a Spanish conversation.
rkozakand over 11 years ago
I did not speak English when I started Kindergarten, but soon learned. It’s easy at that age. I grew up fluent in two languages and have since added several more. I spoke to my parents in English, and to my grandparents in Ukrainian. It would have been extremely rude to speak English to them. Growing up bilingual is an incredible advantage.
ted.hering over 11 years ago
I suspect a lot of Pop’s “recipes” call for “a dash of this” and “a dab of that.” Hard to capture in writing.