"But that's not the way I heard it said by my parents," I responded when told how to pronounce "hard-headed" in Italian. " 'Desta dutta' is the way they said it, not 'testa dura.' " Oh, the complexities of trying to learn to speak Italian in the sixth decade of your life.

But as a second-generation Italian-American, as with most of my generation, parents did not want us to learn Italian. Perhaps it was because they could discuss family matters easier when inquisitive ears were listening. But more than likely it was their way of Americanizing their children. After all, as sons and daughters of immigrants, they suffered discrimination and endured the ethnic slurs hurled at them by others whose immigrant grandparents had preceded theirs.

Read more

Source: http://www.buffalonews.com/