Quote:
Originally Posted by lio45
This is absolutely crazy (and what a failure on the part of the parents!)
This would be equivalent to me having children with my Anglo gf and raising them in, say, Ottawa, and having them grow up unilingual (with only English).
I figure that MAYBE if we move to somewhere like the heart of the USA, then yeah, despite my efforts, maybe my kids won't be fluent in my language... but if they're raised in an environment where it exists to a good degree? No way.
Even in a much less Hispanicized region than Miami (my portfolio is in Brevard County) I've had to use Spanish with handymen and/or my neighbors many times. It would be easy for a child to be in touch with the language there... let alone Miami!
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My wife and I both have first cousins who speak only English and no French, and who had grandparents who spoke only French. So communication was always a challenge when the grandparents were alive. They also had and have lots of aunts and uncles who speak only French. And these people grew up for the most part in places where they could have learned French, but did not. And they also did not change countries obviously.
Moving forward my parents are bilingual in French and English and so are all of their grandkids to some degree at the moment (all under 18) though not sure going forward if all of my nieces and nephews are going to carry the French they have into adulthood or if it will lapse.
(None of this is going on in the province of Quebec BTW. These are people who live in other provinces of Canada.)