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Originally Posted by covingtoncat73
That is interesting! I really only read and speak English. However, I can read a little Spanish better than I can speak it and definitely better than I can understand it when it is spoken to me.
The funny thing is that English was kind of forced on New Orleans, in a way. My mother remembers her grandmother and her grandmother's cousins speaking to each other in French when they didn't want the kids to know what they were saying because my mother and her generation weren't allowed to speak French in school and it wasn't taught. When I was in school, you only had two years of a foreign language in High School. I think French and Spanish were the only choices. I chose Spanish because I thought that would be easier. Now there are "French immersion" schools everywhere. My little nephew and my cousin's kids go to French immersion schools. The nephew is five and knows all his numbers in French.
I really need to do something with the old books but am not sure where to donate them but they need to be cared for. There is one from 1839 that is a huge book in German but is falling apart a bit.
The most interesting conundrum I've found regarding translation is an old letter to my great-grandmother from her Swiss grandmother (my great-great-great). It is written in French. By someone whose first language was German. In 19th century handwriting. Neither my teenage cousin who had been in French immersion or her French teacher could translate it properly. *sigh*
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French itself was relatively recently inculcated among the French, and that happened in the middle or the end of the 19th century. Before that, only 20% of the population spoke French. I got that tidbit from a show called QI, so I don't know the details.
I would have loved to have gone to school in the USA. I would have been utterly destroyed by the popular kids, but it would have been an experience to remember. Where I live most school are bereft of tradition and events like sports, debate teams, math, are not important and there's no such a thing as a prom. Music is barely learned in schools in my country.
My family has almost no heirloom from our past. Certainly not from any great-great-great grandparent. I don't think I'll be able to translate your letter. As for Spanish and French, I feel they are roughly equal in their learning curves. I'm assuming only. Okay, well thanks for an interesting post. See you around.