Uh, me too, probably, which is why I suspect that it wouldn't necessarily be fair of a linguistically-inclined person to expect such things of a non-linguistically-inclined one (and yet, on the other hand, well).
I do know a bunch of perfectly happy couples where one of them has never learned the other's language (or, even, where neither one has), so I assume it can be done, but especially when there are bilingual kids involved, it confuses me utterly - I mean, doesn't it drive people nuts with curiosity not to understand their children's mother tongue? - But then again, yes, there are other factors tangled up there.
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branchandroot
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Date: 2006-09-22 06:32 am (UTC)Uh, me too, probably, which is why I suspect that it wouldn't necessarily be fair of a linguistically-inclined person to expect such things of a non-linguistically-inclined one (and yet, on the other hand, well).
I do know a bunch of perfectly happy couples where one of them has never learned the other's language (or, even, where neither one has), so I assume it can be done, but especially when there are bilingual kids involved, it confuses me utterly - I mean, doesn't it drive people nuts with curiosity not to understand their children's mother tongue? - But then again, yes, there are other factors tangled up there.