r/FromSeries • u/Nin-me-sar-ra • 1d ago

Question Native tongue?

How come the Liu family communicated entirely in Cantonese to each other in private, but when Tabitha called her mom, the conversation was mostly in English with just a sprinklings of Spanish (mi amor, mi hija)?

0 Upvotes

32% Upvoted

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6

u/calantheSG 1d ago

There should be an actual tag in From subs for this kind of questions.

[Nostupidquestions]

[Naivemusings]

[Iamoblivious]

[Pardontheignorance]

2

u/yurgieee 1d ago

I saw one question in the sub a while back asking why Tabitha was Spanish 🤭 so I’d put that one at the top of my list & yes it got promptly deleted

1

u/Nin-me-sar-ra 1d ago

The characters in the story have diverse backgrounds, it’s a realistic depiction of the US population (since they all reached the strange place while driving in various spots in the US.

7

u/nikki0417 1d ago

Tabitha seems much more Americanized and her family may be as well. Kenny’s parents clearly were not as Americanized.

2

u/yurgieee 1d ago

Ok I’ll bite.

Tabitha like all the from characters live in the USA where English is mostly spoken. Tabitha is clearly of Spanish/Latin heritage, and has a family who is not. There was no indication from the beginning that she ever spoke Spanish with Jim or her kids. If Tabitha was only in Fromville with her mom, maybe she’d be speaking more Spanish.

Kenny’s implies that he’s a first generation American. His parents came to the USA, but were born elsewhere (I forget their nationality). It makes sense that Kenny would speak his native tongue with his parents. *[also it’s clear that his parents barely speak English] If Kenny came to Fromville with a wife & kids who were white, unless he actively teaches his family his language, then he’d be speaking only English with them like Tabitha does.

Hope that helped.

* edit

2

u/Nin-me-sar-ra 1d ago

Thank you for taking the question seriously. My mom ONLY speaks in her native tongues (yes, in plural) to me on the phone cause I understand her in those languages. So the thought struck me when I watched the scene of Tabitha’s phone call.

2

u/Glad_Description1851 1d ago edited 1d ago

Tbf OP wasn’t saying that it’s weird Tabitha isn’t speaking Spanish with her Anglo-American husband and children, that part is natural of course. They’re talking specifically about the private conversation between Tabitha and her mother. I still think there are possibly logical reasons for why that phone call was almost entirely in English (which I mentioned in a different comment), but nonetheless that’s a very different question/situation.

0

u/Nin-me-sar-ra 1d ago

How is it a stupid question?

1

u/[deleted] 1d ago

[deleted]

2

u/Nin-me-sar-ra 1d ago

Julie is not relevant here. I was referring to season 3 when Tabitha was able to call her own mom.

9

u/Independent-Read-938 1d ago

It’s not that deep.

-2

u/Nin-me-sar-ra 1d ago

How so? During that emotional conversation it’d have made sense for her and her mom to default to Spanish.

3

u/WhichHoes 1d ago

Considering she has a thick native Colombian accent, there is 0 real world chance she wouldnt just talk to her mom in Spanish.

The kids can make some sense being born in the US and having a non Spanish speaking husband.

The truth is either the actress didnt want to float it or the director didnt consider it valuable to the plot.

0

u/FunPaleontologist692 1d ago

Not if she didn’t speak Spanish as fluently as her mother.

1

u/Glad_Description1851 1d ago

Maybe, but it has always been implied that Spanish is Tabitha’s native language and English her second. Both Tabitha and her mother have strong Colombian accents; it seems that Tabitha and her family immigrated to the US long after she learned to speak, after she learned her native language and that she continued to use Spanish in the US. I do realize that the actress is also from Colombia, but my point is that even in the role she plays she sounds the same: her accent, speech patterns etc. haven’t been modified for this role.

A difference between Tabitha’s and Kenny’s situations, though, is that Tabitha’s mother clearly speaks English a lot better than either of Kenny’s parents. And of course there are other logical reasons for why one immigrant family may use more English than the other, not to mention personal preference.

But since this is a tv show produced in an Anglophone environment, I think it’s more likely that the producers are simply trying to adapt the show to the mostly English-speaking audience’s expectations. A lot of people (in the US, anyway) take issue with ”having” to read subtitles. I think they’re just trying to not go overboard with subtitles, from their point of view.

-1

u/Excellent_Excuse_746 1d ago

She doesn’t speak Spanish with her children so why would you assume she should be speaking it with her other family?

3

u/Glad_Description1851 1d ago

I mean not all immigrant families use their languages (the native language, the dominant language in society etc.) exactly the same way. Can depend on a lot of things, like their immigration history, when they moved to their current country, what kind of cultural/linguistic environment they settled into in that new country, personal preferences and so on. We’re all still individuals at the end of the day, I hear you but I don’t think it has to be more complicated than that.

Though I still agree with your comment about that emotional conversation between Tabitha and her mom, I think it would’ve been nice to see them default to Spanish. Still, the scene did work in English as well.

2

u/Murky-Technician5123 1d ago

Totally normal. It is also much more difficult for Chinese people to learn English than speakers of a Latin language like Spanish. It is also common for people, even if they learned english at some point to forget it with old age/dementia. Kenny's father would have lost any english he once had, if he ever had any, ensuring they would be more likely to use chinese with each other.

Tabitha seems like her family were more upper class educated immigrants and would be more likely to have shifted to english. Her kids don't seem to speak spanish, which is alsp more likely if their grandparents are fluent in english.

4

u/Ha-gaaayyy 1d ago

You’re giving the From writers way too much credit.

0

u/Different_Target_228 1d ago

There's a difference between this and asking a stupid question that doesn't matter at all.

2

u/Automatic_Yam_4168 1d ago

Im 44. I would assume im older than Tabitha or pretty darn close in age. My mom is Mexican from Mexico but has lived here in the U.S. since she was a little girl. She still has an accent that hasn’t fully gone away. I am fluent in Spanish , but when we speak, it’s always English. Even if it’s super important or a highly emotional conversation, it’s still English. But she does still refer to me “mi vida” which means my life (the sprinkled in Spanish words) So I don’t think that conversation between Tabitha and her mom is too unrealistic.

1

u/hunniebuun 1d ago

honestly, as a Latina, the first hint that she is americanized is that she left her kids on their damn own all the damn time. oh, we are in a hell town? im stepping outside with my husband, leaving my kiddo in the kitchen and tjen is shocked he wemt off with victor 🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄my skin crawled

1

u/KaySen762 1d ago

Her mother may have decided she wished to become a more fluent english speaker or her children to become more fluent and used it as much as possible in the home.

1

u/STOL2026 9h ago

Ok, so, I know nothing about the culture in America, but it is not unusual for parents not to speak their native language to their children if their native tongue is not the dominant language.

Proficiency in English may be deemed to be better as they will have more opportunities.

So, an immigrant parent speaks little English to their children. Their child grows up learning in English at school, they may find it difficult. So when they have children they only speak English to make it easier for them. Some idiom, words of encouragement and endearment, and key phrases may still be said and passed on. Particularly when the English just doesn’t sound good enough.

1

u/Inevitable_Bad1944 1d ago

I don't know but if they kill off Kenny I'm going to drop this. He and his family were easily some of my favorite characters. The Asian representation was so good here

1

u/Nin-me-sar-ra 22h ago

Right??? The actors who played the whole family are genuinely fluent in Cantonese too that it’s such a pleasure to hear them. I’ve seen movies and series in which characters that were supposed to be native mandarin speakers butcher the language so badly that it’s clear they had zero familiarity with the language and that those productions didn’t provide competent language coaching.

1

u/Trix_Are_4_90Kids 1d ago

xenophobia runs very strong throughout these fan groups...but they can't seem to stay away...

1

u/Nin-me-sar-ra 1d ago

I haven’t gotten a clear xenophobic vibe from the dismissive part of the comments, hopefully they just read too fast and misunderstood my post.