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ProfessorGAC

(75,357 posts)

23. Don't Know

Reply to electric_blue68 (Reply #21)

Sun Nov 23, 2025, 08:41 PM

Sunday

Probably just surrounded it by it at a very young age.
I could spell & read at 3, and a kids mind is pretty absorptive so I probably just started piecing things together because my grandparents would actually speak Italian to the kids. Things like "in Italy we would say...".
I still remembered enough that as an adult I could communicate with folks that didn't speak English.
My most commonly used phrase though was "Si prega, ripetta lentamente" which means "Please repeat that slowly".

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electric_blue68

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 23 hrs ago #30