re: If she’s growing up from that age in the US, she’ll speak English just fine.
When I first lived in Chicago, the 75 year old grandmother of a friend could not speak or understand a word of English. She did not understand Good Morning, Good Evening, How are you, etc. She was born, graduated Catholic School and lived her whole life in Chicago.
Polish was her one and only language.
My first land lady was born and raised in Chicago of Slovakian immigrants. She could speak about 100 words in English. Understand about 200 words ... and mis-understand about 400 words.
Some of my ancestors came to the US in the 1840s and did not speak English til the 1920s. Some foreigners learned English much faster than others.
I am all for learning English. I have probably taught more ESL classes to immigrants than most FReepers. I have gotten more Naturalized Citizens to vote Conservative than most FReeprs. Maybe more of us should put up or shut up.
That’s just incomprehensible to me (especially in the case of the times in which the old Polish woman grew up). Everyone that I know that’s been in the US since infancy can speak very functional English even if it wasn’t their first language. Maybe with a bit of an accent, but understandable. Your stories are just weird to me, given how readily children pick up languages (course if they’re in a school district that allows them to do most of their work in their native tongue, then they might never get any significant exposure).