re: #247 KGxvi

my mom and her siblings fall into what’s been deemed the 1.5 generation. they were between the ages of (I think) 6 and 12 when they came over. so they have memories of Cuba, though fuzzy, and kind of lived in both worlds. what complicates it in my family is that my mom, her brother, and her sister all married white people (though my uncle’s second marriage was to a Mexican woman, so there’s more Spanish). I was the first born of the next generation and while they tried to teach me both languages, I didn’t speak for a long time. This was the late 70s, early 80s, so they figured they were confusing me and went English only. Years later, we figured out that it wasn’t that I was being confused, it was just that I didn’t want to talk to anyone (usually still don’t). I do still wish I would have learned both languages growing up.

My niece’s mother is Peruvian. Like your mother and her siblings, she came over as a child too. My brother doesn’t know much Spanish but his wife speaks is pretty fluently still so they’re trying to have their daughter learn both English and Spanish. I really think it’s a great idea since I think it will make her a much better student. A funny story though. As you see, I’m pretty well assimilated in that none of my parents or grandparents are foreign born but for some funny reason I called my one grandmother who is of Slovak parentage “Baba” for the longest time as a kid. I call her Grandma now but she was “Baba” for a while.