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It's very common. There are two Chinese restaurants in my area owned by elderly Chinese but run by their American raised children. The elders oversee the business but are only able to communicate via broken english. You'd be surprised at the numbers of first generation immigrants who came to work in the auto plants here in Detroit back in the '40's and 50's and 60's who still couldn't speak fluent English when it came time to retire........ So don't be so free to judge this guy or anyone else for that matter, simply on your perception on how they should be able to communicate.......Especially after being a contributing member of our society........

I think people get their history from the Godfather movies, where Vito Corleone became fluent in English despite having been born in Italy. Even in the movies, Vito showed up stateside at the tender age of 8 or 9 and got to go to school full-time. His real-life counterpart, Lucky Luciano, came to America at the age of 10 and spent some years in school as a full-time student. Most immigrants who come as adults have to start working as soon as they arrive. Between working, spending time on day-to-day things like cooking (since there's no money for eating out), shopping, finding a wife and then raising children, there's no time for English.

Between working, spending time on day-to-day things like cooking (since there's no money for eating out), shopping, finding a wife and then raising children, there's no time for English.

Several of my best friends here in Detroit grew up in Hamtramck and their grandparents, while having lived here most of their lives, chose not to learn English and instead spoke in Polish .......

I find it disconcerting the numbers of so called "conservatives" who continue to demean and look down on immigrants who came to this country and built a life for themselves and their families simply because they don't communicate in a manner these bigots demand..........