Reply #82: To be perfectly honest,

[WilmywoodNCparalegal]

I do not speak in Italian to my parents or sibling if I am in the company of unrelated non-Italian speakers. If I am somewhere where everyone is speaking Italian, I have no problem speaking in Italian. But if I went to the local Food Lion (note: I live in purple NC) and the cashier were Italian, I would not speak to her in Italian if other customers were behind us. I just think of it as a courtesy, as in "We are not talking behind your backs."

FWIW, I did not know one word of English until I relocated from Italy to rural NC in 1987 at the age of 15. Two weeks after relocating, I began high school; at the time, there were no ESL classes. It was a 'sink or swim' enviroment. I have trouble remembering most of my first few weeks in school. I graduated at 17, did decently on the SAT and went on to college. But I firmly believe that had I gone to a place with an established Italian community I would not have learned American English as fluently as I have, nor would I have had the career opportunities that I was able to enjoy.