[uncbob]

Those same first immigrants who sometimes spoke broken English shared the same culture that eventually became America's culture

Actually is was mainly their offspring who did that.
A lot of the original immigrants stayed with their culture as much as they were able

[Clemenza]

Actually is was mainly their offspring who did that. A lot of the original immigrants stayed with their culture as much as they were able

You are correct. My great-grandmother to the day she died rarely ventured outside of her Polish enclave and rarely used English. Being that her husband was a businessman (contractor) he learned to speak good (albeit heavily accented) English so that his Italian/Irish/black employees/clients/political bosses could understand him. It was my grandparents who broke away from many of the old ways, although the continued to speak Polish (and Italian in the case of my mother's family) when speaking with their parents.