Too late for fluency.

Mother had a charmed life. Though she didn’t always think so. She lived ‘til 88. And she had two marriages, the second of which was happy, and lasted for 34 years. Mother may have lamented early in life. Because her mother died at age 27. And her father at 38. And that more or less led to a marriage of convenience. To my father. Lucky for me. But it was not her happiest time. Still, as a youngster, she had the fortune to have learned the Czech language. When she was best able mentally to learn it. Even before she started school in Chicago. Mother’s parents were both born in the U.S. But her maternal grandfather was Czech. And he tutored mother in her early years. In the Czech language. So that by the time she went to school, she really only spoke Czech. Virtually no English. That was still common in the early 20th century. Because ethnics clustered into their own neighborhoods. Especially in the big cities. Mother’s neighborhood was Czech. And even the second generations of many American families still spoke the language. Fluently. That was the case with mother. When she visited Czechoslovakia for the first time, at age 78, she conversed flawlessly with native Czechs. They could hardly believe that she hadn’t lived there before. I’m making this point for a reason. To encourage the teaching of a second or third language in America’s schools. Right from the beginning. In kindergarten. In the first grade. That’s when it’s easiest to learn. Not at age 76. When I’m trying to learn Italian. Knowing full well that it may be a losing cause. By the way, mother made a serious mistake. She didn’t foist Czech on her three children. Talked to us almost solely in English. Too bad. I would have wished to speak a second language. As fluently as I can speak English. Oh, I can still learn rudimentary Italian. But that’s all it will ever be. Rudimentary. Too late for fluency. –Jim Broede