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<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;">===========================================<br>
L O W L A N D S - L - 11 January 2009 - Volume 08<span style="color: rgb(102, 102, 102);"><br>
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From: R. F. Hahn <<a href="mailto:sassisch@yahoo.com" target="_blank">sassisch@yahoo.com</a>><br>
Subject: Language acquisition<br>
<br>
Folks,<br>
<br>
A friend referred me to an interesting article by Daniel Cubias in <i>The
Huffington Post</i>:<br>
<br>
Sprechen Zie Deutsch?: Did European Immigrants Really Learn English Quickly?<br>
<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/daniel-cubias/sprechen-zie-deutsch-did_b_154875.html?view=print">http://www.huffingtonpost.com/daniel-cubias/sprechen-zie-deutsch-did_b_154875.html?view=print</a><br>
<br>
It refers to a recent study that suggests that, contrary to common claims, in past times many
European immigrants to the USA did not learn English quickly, that some of them, even many of those born
and raised in the USA,
never really mastered English. The example of Wisconsin's large German immigrant community
shows that many German-Americans with little or no English proficiency felt and
behaved "American"; they participated in public affairs and politics.<br>
<br>
Cubias aims at dispelling today's myths that multiculturalism is a newfangled
thing, that earlier European immigrants learned English quickly to survive and
that this made them "true Americans," myths oftentimes shoved in the
faces of today's large Spanish-speaking minority.<br>
<br>
I have occasionally poked around among relevant studies based on historical records. In general, they support the claim that many early European
immigrants acquired their "American-ness" before they acquired
workable English proficiency. I even came across early American patriotic
poetry in Low Saxon!<br>
<br>
Regards,<br>
Reinhard/Ron</span></p>