Should a parent refuse to speak their native language to American born kids?

[Bluesmama]

Originally Posted by Weekend Traveler

I was talking to a woman who is from Korea but does not speak Korean to her American born children. She says while she loves the Korean language and the Korean culture she is an American now and the language of America is English. So around the house and with friends and family her American born kids speak English.

Once they get older she wants them to learn Korean and learn more about the Korean culture and visit her country but now she does not want to confuse the young children and make them attempt to speak two different languages, English with their American born friends and in school, and Korean at home. So it is all English for them.

What do you think about this? (Again, this is not an argument against knowing two languages but an argument for learning English well at first and then when they are older, the kids can learn Korean or any other language they choose.)

I don't see anything particularly wrong with it. In fact, that's better than the opposite where many immigrants refuse to speak or enforce English with their children.

My parents were Europeans immigrants but our mother placed a priority on English as the first language, and that is what she spoke. She spoke with our father in Portuguese, which is largely where I learned most of that little I learned of the language.

[Happy Cells]

I would say no.

Parents (both of them) should teach and speak to their children in their "mother tongue".
The global environment we live in really demands that American kids not just "learn" another language but that they become truly bi-lingual, fully conversant in more than one language.
That being said, it is imperative that all Americans be fully capable of communicating in American Standard English. English is the language not only of America and much of the world but it is the language of science and business etc.
There is great benefit in kids growing up knowing BOTH the values of the "old world" language and traditions AND the values and language and traditions of America. It is PRECISELY those multi-cultural aspects of America that makes us such a neat place and strong country.
The pit-falls come in where people who live in America start loosing too much of one or the other....the American values....or the old-world values. There needs to be a balance and to achieve that balance can be really tricky. We are all Americans and we love and cherish all that this means....but we love our history too...and since virtually all of us come (at some point) from someplace else...we bring some of that with us. The negative baggage (hate/racism/violent extremism) is better left at the dock....never to make American shores...but the POSITIVE aspects of various cultures make ALL of us richer.

[Fullback32]

I have a bit of a spin of this but I definitely speak to my children in my native langiage. That language is Comanche. It doesn't get more "native" than that.