I think it's significant that we speak of a "mother
tongue" because that first language nurtures our
worldview in a way which cannot be rivaled by anything
introduced in school. Although English is my native
language and America my home, my mother is German and
she spoke German as she raised us at home, so to me
German is literally my mother tongue. No matter how
little I've used it over the years, I've managed to
maintain a relatively high ability, most likely
because of this very early familiarity. I feel
privileged to know more than one language. I find
myself thinking in idioms from German which cannot be
translated or sometimes even understood in English. It
definitely enriches m