03-14-2003, 04:30 PM
My father learned English well because he had to: his Mom and Dad made him work at it, and they also adopted a particular attitude:
The chose to try and assimilate, and did not get into "we want to be hyphenated Americans." They wanted their kids to be Americans! That said, my Aunt spoke fluent Serbian and went to a Serbian Orthodox church her whole life, and was fully involved in the "expatriate Serb" community for her whole life. But she always identified herself as an American.
Where ESL has, IMO, become the crutch is that a pretty wide spread attitude has been taken to work against assimilation into the broader base culture. You can see this in many of the ethnic ghettos of big cities, be they Italian, Irish, Korean, Chinese, Jamaican, what have you. The ability to survive without assimilating can reduce the internal motivation to learn English 'in order to get ahead.'
Even so, plenty of folks still choose to succeed in the English language rather than refuse the challenge. To them I tip my tam.
The chose to try and assimilate, and did not get into "we want to be hyphenated Americans." They wanted their kids to be Americans! That said, my Aunt spoke fluent Serbian and went to a Serbian Orthodox church her whole life, and was fully involved in the "expatriate Serb" community for her whole life. But she always identified herself as an American.
Where ESL has, IMO, become the crutch is that a pretty wide spread attitude has been taken to work against assimilation into the broader base culture. You can see this in many of the ethnic ghettos of big cities, be they Italian, Irish, Korean, Chinese, Jamaican, what have you. The ability to survive without assimilating can reduce the internal motivation to learn English 'in order to get ahead.'
Even so, plenty of folks still choose to succeed in the English language rather than refuse the challenge. To them I tip my tam.
Cry 'Havoc' and let slip the Men 'O War!
In War, the outcome is never final. --Carl von Clausewitz--
Igitur qui desiderat pacem, praeparet bellum
John 11:35 - consider why.
In Memory of Pete
In War, the outcome is never final. --Carl von Clausewitz--
Igitur qui desiderat pacem, praeparet bellum
John 11:35 - consider why.
In Memory of Pete