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English remains dominant language preference for immigrants to United States:
How can the Latino population be growing rapidly while Spanish-speaking remains stable? The answer lies in oft-overlooked peculiarities of census data and in the particular linguistic history of the United States.
If one looks only at immigration patterns over the past half-century, it is true that the U.S. has been gaining Spanish-speakers. From 1965 to 2015, roughly half of all immigration has come from Latin American countries. This trend added some 30 million people, most of whom came speaking Spanish, to the American populace.
But this is only half the story. While new immigrants bring Spanish with them, research shows that their children tend to become bilinguals who overwhelmingly prefer English. As a result, the same immigrants' grandchildren likely speak English only.
Linguists call this phenomenon "the three-generation pattern." In essence, it means that non-English languages in the U.S. are lost by or during the third generation.
We can see this pattern playing out in data from the Pew Hispanic Center. Surveys show that in 2000, 48 percent of Latino adults aged 50 to 68 spoke "only English" or "English very well," and that 73 percent of Latino children aged 5 to 17 did.
By 2014, those numbers had jumped to 52 percent and 88 percent, respectively. In other words, the shift from Spanish to English is happening nationwide, both over time and between generations.
If the preferred language is English, why do the immigrants refuse to understand common English terms like "taco," "burrito," "loco," and "amigo?"
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Runaway1956 on Saturday January 27 2018, @10:34AM (3 children)
In my own family, the old country language was gone with the third generation. I'm fourth gen, on my father's side, and English is the only language I can speak fluently.
I've noted this at work. First gen Mexicans are sometimes belligerent about learning and using English - some will tell you that it is disrespectful to not use their native language. Second gen are pretty fluent in English, and rely on Mexican/Spanish far less. Third gen may or may not speak Spanish, but their English is indistinguishable from my own. Fourth gen? Hell, I've worked with people of Mexican ancestry all my life. Some of them have been here for four or five generations, others have been here since they were fighting the Apache for the right to live. You won't know that they are Mexican, unless and until you start bullshitting, and compare ancestries.
"But, your name doesn't sound Spanish or Mexican."
"Well, my great-grandmother married a German man, then my grandfather married a Mexican. So, I'm almost all Mexican, with a little Anglo."
That was part of a conversation with the number two engineer, on a fifteen million dollar construction job.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 27 2018, @11:28AM (2 children)
Some prejudice there? It almost sounds like you wouldn't expect people around the world to work on big construction jobs or something. Why are you even bringing this up??
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Runaway1956 on Saturday January 27 2018, @11:50AM
You are the complete dumbass. The POINT WAS, Tony is a Texan first, an American second, and his heritage happens to be Mexican. And, he will tell you real quick how he views things.
Snowflakes who are searching for prejudice will find it wherever they go, but they never realize that the prejudice is in their own hearts and minds. You see it because you're looking through prejudice colored lenses.
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 27 2018, @07:32PM
Definitely reading too much into it. People like Runaway invest a lot of importance in things like jobs and money, so this is just his way of saying "this story comes from a successful hard working smart guy." It imbues his story with more meaning and value. Well, to himself anyway :D
"This wasn't just some shmo off the street now! This was a high class guy! Collared shirt, titanium slide rule, and at least two Marvy Uchida's in his pocket protector!!"