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ProfessorGAC

(75,368 posts)

18. Wouldn't Have Worked

Reply to electric_blue68 (Original post)

Sun Nov 23, 2025, 05:04 PM

Sunday

My grandparents tried it until my dad told them I understood more Italian than my mom!
Not that I was ever fluent, but I always got the gist.
By the time I was 5 or 6, talking in Italian only stopped the other kids from knowing what they were saying.
Oops!
When in HS my dad's uncle would send letters from California. He spoke fluent English but never adapted to writing in English so the letters were in Italian.
I'd get home from school & my mom would hand me the letter and say "Read this so I know if it's important before dad gets home." Typically it was no big deal, just catching up but if was serious she wanted my dad to know as soon as got home.
My mom probably only knew 20 words in Italian that weren't food.

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electric_blue68 Boomerproud

30 replies

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Highlight:

Deb's 'say thank you...' suddenly reminded me of...How many of Your Parents Spoke in their Other Language so you... [View all] electric_blue68 Sunday OP

My parents both spoke Slovenian, as did my grandparents and both of their extended families. So if they switched.... FadedMullet Sunday #1

Lots of Slovaks and Hungarians in Cleveland back then! Diamond_Dog Sunday #3

Yes there were. Drive a few blocks and you'd go from a Polish neighborhood, through a German one, then Italian. FadedMullet Sunday #5

So true. Diamond_Dog Sunday #6

Often true in NYC, too. Batches of majority ethnic neighborhoods... electric_blue68 Sunday #12

Ty.... electric_blue68 Sunday #10

When my sister and I were kids Diamond_Dog Sunday #2

TY. I guess...enough? electric_blue68 Sunday #11

My mother and grandmother would speak Polish in front of me MIButterfly Sunday #4

Ty. Hmmm, probably my mom and her mom occasionally spoke Greek in front of us. electric_blue68 Sunday #13

My mother and vrandmother sis the same with German. soldierant Sunday #17

Aha! electric_blue68 Sunday #20

My grandparents immigrated to America from Spain. My parents, aunts, and uncles spoke Spanish to one another. skylucy Sunday #7

TY. I took Spanish in HS. electric_blue68 Sunday #14

My mother could speak Polish with her sisters and parents. My dad could speak Italian. Srkdqltr Sunday #8

Ty. electric_blue68 Sunday #15

No secrets in my family. CrispyQ Sunday #9

TY. 😄 electric_blue68 Sunday #16

Wouldn't Have Worked ProfessorGAC Sunday #18

That's pretty funny. You probably had some natural ability. electric_blue68 Sunday #21

Don't Know ProfessorGAC Sunday #23

Still, natural ability. I was often hearing my mom, and her relatives speaking Greek but didn't catch it.... electric_blue68 Sunday #24

Yeah, I Don't Remember It Either ProfessorGAC Yesterday #25

My gradeparents did. But I spent alot of time with my grandparents and understood Ukrainian some Yiddish.The swear words debm55 Sunday #19

Good for you. Hahaha - tbe swear worlds... I only know one mild one in Greek... electric_blue68 Sunday #22

sometime around the teddy roosevelt administration rampartd Yesterday #26

My sister-in-law and my son-in-law COULD have done that DFW Yesterday #27

all my family has been here for generations so no other strange language besides my samnsara Yesterday #28

My mom spoke Polish to her sister over the phone & dad sure let the Serb swear word a fly SheltieLover Yesterday #29

I am umpteen generations away from the first ancestors who arrived here. yellowdogintexas Yesterday #30