Acquisition of foreign languages spoken at home is a funny thing. Both my kids would have nothing to do with it, at the time, and both now regret not having learned the language. My granddaughter seems intent on repeating the cycle.
I believe the principal reason for this attitude is the lack of perceived payoff. With whom, among those they interact with socially, must they speak with in a foreign language? Having monolingual (or effectively monolingual) grandparent/aunt/uncle helps in this case. (I've read of instances, in Jewish families for example, where certain adult members deliberately speak with children in only one of the several languages they are familiar with, so that kids need to speak German if they want to talk with grandpa, French if they want to talk to grandma, etc.)
I cannot help but believe there is not all that much to the phenomenon of not teaching a kid the language spoken by parents in favor of the "foreign" language of a new country, simply because there is virtually nothing short of imprisonment that will prevent a child from acquiring native speaking skills in a new country. (Which is not to say that people don't consciously engage in withholding the language of the "old country," but what people do is not always logical.)
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I believe the principal reason for this attitude is the lack of perceived payoff. With whom, among those they interact with socially, must they speak with in a foreign language? Having monolingual (or effectively monolingual) grandparent/aunt/uncle helps in this case. (I've read of instances, in Jewish families for example, where certain adult members deliberately speak with children in only one of the several languages they are familiar with, so that kids need to speak German if they want to talk with grandpa, French if they want to talk to grandma, etc.)
I cannot help but believe there is not all that much to the phenomenon of not teaching a kid the language spoken by parents in favor of the "foreign" language of a new country, simply because there is virtually nothing short of imprisonment that will prevent a child from acquiring native speaking skills in a new country. (Which is not to say that people don't consciously engage in withholding the language of the "old country," but what people do is not always logical.)
Cheers...