In what generation did your ancestors learn English?

Question

If your ancestors came from a non-English speaking country, did they learn English before they arrived? Did they speak primarily English by the time they died? In what generation in your family did the "old language" die out?

My Irish ancestors spoke English when they arrived, but my Italian ancestors, like most Italian immigrants, learned only broken English. However, their children grew up speaking English most of the time.

Answer 1

i would like to know how many of you know this- paticularly if it is several generations back. It seems odd that if it is 6 generations back that you would know. Are you guessing/?

Answer 2

I don't know, exactly. On one side, my grandparents said they made a conscious decision to 'Americanize' - but they were raised speaking English, anyway, so I don't know what they even meant by that. On the other side, my Great-Grandmother, the last of my ancestors to come over from the Old Country, spoke English like a native when I knew her.

Answer 3

my irish ancestors sopke no english. They spoke gaelic and had to learn english. American english. My other relatives spoke german and had to learn english as well. All learned enough to get by at first and by second generation, evryone used english. The point is they made the attempt to fit in with the dominant language in the land they came to, unlike todays immigrants.
The vast majority of immigrants in years past forced their children to speak english and often didn't even teach their children their native tounge. The knew they had to know english to survive and fit in, unlike today.
Back in the day, if you didn't speak english, you where out of luck. You couldn't work, get help etc. There where no translators evrywhere. Signs where in english only.
There was also no welfare, no medicaid.

Answer 4

My family moved to the new world in the early 1700. However, they moved to French territory, near the Mississippi River. Therefore, the language of the land was French, which they spoke. They spoke that language until the early 1900s, when there was a push for nationalism in the country, now the USA. My grandparents were bilingual, but sadly, they only used French when they didn't want my father and his siblings to understand. The "Americans" in Louisiana looked down on the "French" and my grandparents didn't want their children to have the stigma attached to the language. So I had to learn French in school.

Answer 5

First

Answer 6

My ancestors were born here in old Spain, I do not know what generation started speaking English, but the Spanish has never "died" out, My familiy still are bi-lingual and bi-cultural today.

Answer 7

My grandfather learned to speak fluent English and even found a job in America before he came here. He was from Mexico.

Answer 8

My grandparents came to Canada first and learned accented English there. By the time they moved to Detroit, they were able to speak advanced conversationally but with a very heavy accent. My grandparents always spoke English with the children, but German amongst themselves. My father speaks native fluent English as do I, but he speaks broken German and I speak absolutely no German. My husband came to the US speaking accented but fluent English and now he barely speaks Romanian. As a matter of fact, I probably speak Romanian to him more than he does to me!

Answer 9

I studied Spanish in intense college and German in college. My neural connections weren't designed for studying languages easily. in spite of the undeniable fact that, I truly have recently been attracted to Dutch; on account that lots of my ancestors have been early New Amsterdam settlers; Dutch women all of us is hotties, Dutch people drink beer, and Holland may be a relaxing place to bypass to. It additionally has extra English cognates than Hoch Deutsch, which I stumbled by way of in ache. sensible or no longer, I truly have stumbled on that my tries at studying distant places languages taught me issues approximately my community English i might have on no account time-honored in any different case.

Answer 10

My great-grandparents came here from Germany. From day one, the rule was that English was the primary language. My grandparents were raised speaking both German and English. My father was born 1939 and was not taught German due to the anti-Germany sentiment at that time. I was taught German by my grandparents.

Answer 11

My ancestors came from multiple countries...including aboriginal Americans. Those that did not speak English before they got here, learned very quickly and assimilated into the culture.