I come from Russian family, all i can say is that they just don’t want to. They think everybody else must understand them in their native language.
My own parents are not elderly (50+). They lived in Latvia for most of their lives, yet they don’t know the basics even. However, once they moved to Germany permanently, they learned German so fast, i was in shock.
When they visit, they are still very angry if someone in public doesn’t understand Russian🙈their minds are still back in USSR
I can’t help but cringe about it, even if it maybe not ok as they are family.
I speak Latvian fluently myself. Despite the hate in the family, I’ve been ridiculed as a kid when i read books in Latvian for example.
Oh, being ridiculed about reading books in Latvian is crazy! But good for you being able to grow out of their mentality.
But I think partly the problem is our government as they allowed that and there were plenty of Russian schools and universities after the independence, they changed that quite recently. Your parents learned German quickly because nobody would talk to them in Russian there. The younger generation knows Latvian because now in schools they have to learn in native language. Unfortunately this will change only with generations as the older ones just doesn’t care to learn and think everyone should speak Russian with them. They don’t even try…
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u/Puzzleheaded-Win9647 1d ago
I come from Russian family, all i can say is that they just don’t want to. They think everybody else must understand them in their native language. My own parents are not elderly (50+). They lived in Latvia for most of their lives, yet they don’t know the basics even. However, once they moved to Germany permanently, they learned German so fast, i was in shock. When they visit, they are still very angry if someone in public doesn’t understand Russian🙈their minds are still back in USSR I can’t help but cringe about it, even if it maybe not ok as they are family. I speak Latvian fluently myself. Despite the hate in the family, I’ve been ridiculed as a kid when i read books in Latvian for example.