[beckercpa]

I have many relatives in India/Pakistan and, as I can speak my mother and fathers languages, whenever I go to see my relatives I can communicate with them. My parents have passed away and I married after they passed away and though my wife can speak Urdu, at home we just use English. I took my daughter & son on holiday to meet my relatives but cleary they were limited in their communication skills. I have tried to teach my children at least Urdu but as it's not spoken at home it's almost impossible. I find this rather sad now.
So to me it's about being to able to communicate with your wider family and as Islam places a strong emphasis on kinship I guess it's important. Clearly knowing Arabic is important too. So now my chidren go to Arabic & Urdu classes.
Also having seen how easily things can change in the world you never know when you might have to leave where you are and return to where you came from.