How many generations does it take for immigrants to lose their native language and switch to English?

Immigrants lose their native language and switch to English after two or three generations. Although the first generation tries to learn English quickly, their children often learn the parents' native tongue first and become bilingual. Only after that span do they drop the mother tongue and adopt English.

Les explains that this pattern is like immigrants in America from old European ethnic backgrounds. Even though they tried to learn English as quickly as possible, their little children first learned the native language of their parents—German, Dutch, French, Greek, or whatever it may have been. Many of those kids were bilingual. It is not until two or three generations go by that they lose that mother tongue and then pick up their adopted language, which in America is English. Les uses this illustration to explain how dispersed Jews were assimilated into the Middle East.

How long does it take for an immigrant family to lose its native language?

It generally takes two or three generations for an immigrant family to lose its native mother tongue and adopt the language of its new country. The first generation keeps the old language, children may be bilingual, and later generations shift to the adopted language, such as English in America.