[durasell]

Assimilation patterns are different today than when your grandparents probably arrived.

[Clemenza]

My great granparents settled in isolated ethnic ghettoes, with the female portion never really learning English. Just as small town America was very insular, so were those ethnic enclaves. The experience of the second generation during WWII, and the "America united" propaganda campaign pushed by Roosevelt, changed that.

The only first generation folks who ever acculturate into the U.S. came here when they were under 12. The rest never quite leave the old country behind. Their kids, however, are always Americanized, including speaking English (which alot of Freepers refuse to believe). This is as true of the Colombians/South Americans who were my neighbors in Miami, as it is for the Chinese and Middle Eastern kids who were my neighbors in SW Brooklyn.