"My mom and my dad wanted my brother and I to have a better life, you know, better education, better jobs. It was probably harder, much, much harder, for my parents. When you're a kid, you can learn a language much more easily; I learned English in less than a year"
About this Quote
The line about learning English in under a year has a double edge. On the surface, it's a clean, digestible anecdote - the kind talk shows love because it compresses upheaval into a relatable win. Underneath, it hints at the asymmetry of assimilation. Kids can speed-run belonging; adults have to live in the slower, more humiliating timeline where every conversation is a small test. By invoking how easily children learn language, she normalizes her own adaptation while making her parents' struggle feel heavier, longer, less solvable.
Context matters: Kunis is a highly visible immigrant who became a very American kind of star. That visibility can invite a simplistic "see, it works" takeaway. Her wording resists that. The intent is gratitude, but also reframing: success isn't proof that the system is fair, it's evidence that someone paid a steep price so the next generation could move faster.
Quote Details
| Topic | Family |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
| Cite |
Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Kunis, Mila. (2026, January 16). My mom and my dad wanted my brother and I to have a better life, you know, better education, better jobs. It was probably harder, much, much harder, for my parents. When you're a kid, you can learn a language much more easily; I learned English in less than a year. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/my-mom-and-my-dad-wanted-my-brother-and-i-to-have-93466/
Chicago Style
Kunis, Mila. "My mom and my dad wanted my brother and I to have a better life, you know, better education, better jobs. It was probably harder, much, much harder, for my parents. When you're a kid, you can learn a language much more easily; I learned English in less than a year." FixQuotes. January 16, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/my-mom-and-my-dad-wanted-my-brother-and-i-to-have-93466/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"My mom and my dad wanted my brother and I to have a better life, you know, better education, better jobs. It was probably harder, much, much harder, for my parents. When you're a kid, you can learn a language much more easily; I learned English in less than a year." FixQuotes, 16 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/my-mom-and-my-dad-wanted-my-brother-and-i-to-have-93466/. Accessed 12 Feb. 2026.
