Quote Originally Posted by Bucko View Post
Not sure about your last comment though. I've never met a second generation immigrant whose English has suffered as a result of their parents'. My girlfriend's father is Dutch, and her English is perfect.
That's quite natural ! Most Dutch people born and raised in the Netherlands speak English very well, some almost like native speakers, without having lived in an English speaking country. Dutch is the closest language to Old and Middle English, that explains a lot !

And I've met a lot of Chinese Australians/Canadians in Japan who speak English 100% naturally. Some 2nd generation Australians have slight accents though, notibly the Greek community, but the only mistakes they'd make in their speech would be natural mistakes that all speakers make.
Just on this forum I have noticed a lot of US-born Americans who do not master English very well - less well than many Northern Europeans who have English as their 2nd or 3rd language.