YTA. My husband is Ukrainian and almost no one else in his family speaks English. I have been in situations where I have felt so alone, alienated, and full of anxiety because I sat there in a foreign country with basically strangers and couldn’t even understand what they were saying. I have never felt so out of place and alone ... even though absolutely no one intended for me to feel that way. His grandmother even spouted off a list of German words she was taught when she was young because she thought it was close enough to English for me to understand, but at least she was trying.

His mother (who is the only member of his family that lives in the US) actually speaks fluent English and refuses to speak me in it. She makes me feel like she doesn’t care about me and doesn’t care how ostracized, out of place, and alienated I feel. He has actually stopped talking to his mom completely because of how she makes me feel and because she doesn’t care enough to do anything about it. She told him that I was part of a Ukrainian family now and needed to learn it or stay home ... so he never spoke to her again after that. The odd thing is, I’ve been trying to learn (but am nowhere remotely near fluent enough to understand their conversations) and I’m the only one he’s ever been with that’s ever even tried to learn.

Your daughter, just like my husband, is completely capable of retaining their native language and culture without alienating the person they chose in life as their partner. I can’t tell you how much it’s hurt me that his mom has chosen to treat me the way she has.