German dialect in Texas is one of a kind, and dying out

[Schroeder]

Originally Posted by BrucePartington

Why even bother teaching it to second generation? Your descendants need to blend in and be accepted locally if they are to prosper.

You can raise kids bilingual. They learn the language of their parents home country and the local one. That's usually not a problem, I've seen it being done here a few times. A foreign language is always a good thing to have and can even open you doors on the job market (and makes some holiday trips so much easier). So I'm all for teaching your kids your native language IF you teach them the local one as well.

Side note: I would be mad if one day I called some institution in my country and I had to "press 1" for the native language. You move to another country, you adapt and learn the language, not the other way around. You are a guest, not a host.

Amen to that. I always get pissed when I see third generation people here who don't speak the language properly....

[Jimbuna]

Originally Posted by Schroeder

You can raise kids bilingual. They learn the language of their parents home country and the local one. That's usually not a problem, I've seen it being done here a few times. A foreign language is always a good thing to have and can even open you doors on the job market (and makes some holiday trips so much easier). So I'm all for teaching your kids your native language IF you teach them the local one as well.

Amen to that. I always get pissed when I see third generation people here who don't speak the language properly....

A lot of merit in that

[vienna]

In my original hometown of San Francisco, the fading of the German language started even earlier than WW1/WW2. At the time of the Great Fire & Earthquake of 1906, a very substantial number of propertties, homes, and businesses were insured by insurance companies headquartered in Germany. After the devastaion, the German insurance companies quickly and quietly pulled uo stakes and fled oversea, not paying off claims from the people who had paid for the insurance. There developed from that point an animosity fueled further by the wars...

<O>

You can raise kids bilingual. They learn the language of their parents home country and the local one.

What if the local one happens to be bilingual or even multi lingual?

Amen to that. I always get pissed when I see third generation people here who don't speak the language properly....

The same can be said of natives.

[Schroeder]

Originally Posted by Tribesman

What if the local one happens to be bilingual or even multi lingual?

There has been a test to determine how many languages kids could learn simultaneously. I think it where 4 different languages but i'm not sure about that number anymore.
So there should be no problem in learning one or two different languages besides the local one.

So there should be no problem in learning one or two different languages besides the local one.

What about practical problems?
Lots of Germans living out west speak English and Irish, but they still cannot understand someone from west Cork or Donegal in either language

[Schroeder]

Originally Posted by Tribesman

What about practical problems?
Lots of Germans living out west speak English and Irish, but they still cannot understand someone from west Cork or Donegal in either language

Ok, what are you actually going after? Don't teach your kids several languages? Or am I missing something? I know some people who grew up bilingual and I don't see where the problem in that is.

Ok, what are you actually going after?

Learning the official local language/s doesn't mean you can speak with locals or understand them.
Take an indian doctor with perfect oxford English, stick him in Govan and he might as well have learnt Swahili for all the good it will do him with verbal communication.

[Schroeder]

Ah, ok, now I get it. But that doesn't change the fact that additional languages are generally a bonus.