This ethnographic study, involving twelve Brazilian families in the United States, describes the socialization process o people confronted to a new language/culture. The bilingual communicative competence was investigated within five social domains. Children/adolescents of the study manifest a kind of "subtractive bilingualism". Parents express strategies of actions aimed at maintaining the first language. The church community and Brazilian television programs have become important forces to promote "conversational lessons" in Portuguese.
Immigrants; Bilingual competence; Socialization process
