On Mon, November 10, 2008 1:16 pm, Nutmeg421@aol.com wrote: > > In a message dated 11/10/08 10:18:04 AM, etienne.herrbach@wanadoo.fr > writes: > > >> Before WWI, very few Alsatians in the countryside understood French. >> They spoke dialect and understood German. >> > > My grandfather knew French, as did my father who helped me with my college > French. Of course, my grandfather died in the 1860s before Germany was As did my grandmother, and her parents.