[Hawthorn]

>All of my children are also fluent in all three, although they refuse to speak anything but English most of the time.<

This phenomenon seems to be nearly universal among "second generation" kids in the USA. No matter whether the parents' mother tongue is Spanish, Chinese, Arabic, Lativian, Thai or whatever, the kids only want to speak English!

I've seen or heard about this situation time and again from my foreign-born friends and colleagues. I think ca. 1/2 of the reason is simple rebellion against parental authority, while the other 1/2 reflects a desire not to be seen by their peers as anything other than 100% American.

[ga medic]

Your experience is typical of everything that I have seen as well. I have worked hard at teaching my children all three languages, and about their culture as well. I would like to think that they will pass this on to their own children, but if I am honest with myself, I know that they won’t. Chances are that if I want my grandchildren to learn Spanish or Portuguese, I will have to teach them myself.

[Myrddin]

There is a large community of Vietnamese people in San Diego. I lived in Mira Mesa where most of them settled. They have a very high standard of academic achievement among the first generation of children from these immigrants. That doesn't seem to carry to the 2nd generation. The strong motivation to succeed was driven by the immigrant parents who were thrilled to have the opportunity to move to the US. My sons grew up with that 1st generation of aggressive achievers. It was a good, strong academic environment. The 2nd generation is tending toward rebellion and gang membership.