Question for people living in US that speak English and also other languages?

Question

Assuming you were born in the US to parents that came her from another country...
Were you brought up speaking both languages in the home?
Since you were born and raised here, did you also learn to read and write in your parents' native language?

I am just curious because I have a friend whose parents came here from another country, and she grew up knowing how to speak both English and her parents' native language, but she never learned to read and write it, and a lot of people give her a hard time for not being able to read and write in the other language, but she considers English her first language.

Answer 1

You will find that it is often the case in multilingual families that, although the children are completely fluent orally in the language that they speak at home, because they live in total immersion in the country where they live and go to school they consider the language of that country to be their first language.
This may be because parents communicate with their children orally, but have not got the time or the patience or even the practical means to teach them to read and write in their own native language. Also, since reading and writing are generally taught at school rather than at home, the children are bombarded with the material provided there and it takes precedence over what they pick up at home.
I do not understand why your friend should be given a hard time because she cannot read or write her parents' original language fluently. Reading and writing are different skills from oral comprehension and expression. She already has an advantage on persons who have no understanding of the language at all. Would they pick on a friend who is proficient at basket ball but could not play football? Both are ball games but need different skills.
I was brought up in a household where we spoke French. I started English at school and this has become my first language though my French is still OK. In the end it is the language with which one lives and that one uses daily in the ordinary life context which takes precedence over others.

Answer 2

I was born in the US to Mexican parents. I learned English first, then Spanish. My parents didn't teach me to read and write Spanish; I had to learn in school.