I came from a bilingual family. When I was young, I was learning both French and English at the same time. That all changed as later on, the only people who spoke to me in French were my Grandmother and my Mother. Soon, I could just understand French, but not speak it well, since I never used it. My Dad has always refused to speak to me in French and still does. As a result, I only speak English now and dabble a little bit in French and Spanish. How I wish that I had grown up bilingual.
It's not all that and a bag of chips. All my grandparents came from Sweden and I grew up speaking it (more or less). When I lived in Sweden, I found out quick that the older generation did not speak contemporary Swedish. I looked like a fool for several weeks. My Mexican-descended friends have the same thing when they've gone to Mexico.
