This reminded me of my gf's relation to Russian. Her grandparents fled the Soviet Union at the Revolution and became stateless in China, where her mother was born. Eventually the family moved to Australia, where she was born (and where for a while she stayed with the nuns in an Orthodox monastery in the outback!)  Her mother and grandmother always wanted her to learn Russian, but she had little interest and really only knows a few phrases. But now, in her mid-50s and her mother in her late 80s (but still very sharp) she wishes she had learned it because it is such a fundamental part of her cultural upbringing.   She also has some Jewish blood, but it's on her father's side, so strictly "it doesn't count".