20% of Americans are Hispanics, and I’ve seen a lot of people say that English is very less used in Hispanic dominated places of America and Spanish is the primary language in those places.
Yes, there are surveys which suggests that after a generation or two Hispanic americans cant even speak spanish, but the hispanics surveyed came to America in a time where there were less hispanics than today, thats why they didnt grow up living in places where spanish is the primary language.
Do you think this trend of not knowing spanish after a gen or two will continue or will the influence of spanish language increase as the Hispanic population keeps increasing?
42 comments
A relevant piece
[https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna24871558](https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna24871558)
It is from 2008
I doubt it. Too much international usage. I do think English will do what it does and just eat up Spanish words and phrases.
Unlikely. English is too much of an international de facto language to just disappear in the US. I wouldn’t be surprised if a lot more Spanish slang and loan words started creeping in though.
No. It’s a ridiculous concept frankly.
> Yes, there are surveys which suggests that after a generation or two Hispanic americans cant even speak spanish, but the hispanics surveyed came to America in a time where there were less hispanics than today, thats why they didnt grow up living in places where spanish is the primary language.
Do you think that this isn’t something social scientists and those who need to plan for the future are too dumb to consider? Please explain what’s different about today that would have Americans growing up in the US not speaking English? I say this as someone whose kids can barely speak to their grandmother that doesn’t know much English. I know lots of Spanish-speaking people and lots of people with bilingual kids, but I’ve never met someone of any background who have kids in the US that can’t speak English.
Nope. The vast majority of the country operates in English, even in the Spanish dominate neighborhoods in the United States. To make Spanish more dominate, you would need to cull a lot of people, depopulate a lot of states, because those people are not learning Spanish to communicate with and people that move there, regardless what the speak, have to adapt.
> Do you think this influence of English will dwindle
No.
> Spanish will be a much more influential language due to Hispanic Americans?
Yes. Become more influential, sure. Surpass English, not a chance.
No.
Nõ
No. Immigrants will slowly learn the language themselves and their children will definitely grow up predominantly knowing English as their first language simply by living under it. Contemporary Latin American immigrants speaking Spanish isn’t functionally different than hundreds of years of mass immigration from countries where English is also not the predominant language. Otherwise America would be a German speaking country by now.
By the third Gen (grandchildren of the immigrants) Spanish fluency in Latino families is almost non existent.
Here in socal there’s Chicano (Mexican-American) neighborhoods that have been that way for 100 years and you’ll be hard pressed to find fluent Spanish speakers unless their family came more recently.
The same thing goes for the other Latinos like the central Americans.
There’s some exceptions though, some Latino communities in the border areas have still passed it down generationally, but it’s not the norm.
If this is in states with high Hispanic populations, there’s no chance of it happening outside.
One thing that’s somewhat changing is that some Latino people feel the need to preserve their roots so if they don’t know Spanish they’ll get their kids to learn it.
I think the biggest thing that’s currently preserving the Spanish language here in the states are the rise of Latin-American artists
Everyday I’m surprised at how much Spanish I understand. I am terrible at other languages. I never picked up more then general conversational Swedish or Norwegian as a child and now I can barely order a drink even though both my parents and two of my three siblings speak it fluently. But when someone speaks Spanish or it’s on TV I am always shocked that I understand a few words! And I am the whitest white girl from Minneapolis MN. I think Spanish will just become more and more a part of how we use language in the US. If someone as language deaf as me is understanding more and more of it then it’s definitely happening.
English is rapidly becoming the world’s language.
Probably not
It is my hope that we just grow into a nation comfortable with heterogeneity… it is my expectation that some jackass will make English the “national language” or some shit like that.
My area is about 40% Hispanic. English is not in danger. Many businesses prefer bilingual people for customer service roles so speaking Spanish is definitely a plus. I have many Hispanic/partly Hispanic friends and loved ones. All speak English but only some speak Spanish.
Hope that helps.
Nope. Sure the immigrant generation all speak Spanish but, by the grandkid generation are around they’re all “no sabos”. My parents were both born in El Salvador and only spoke Spanish to us growing up and still speak 80% Spanish to us. I’m fluent but, wouldn’t call myself university level or anything, my younger sister can speak it but struggles a bit and prefers not to, and my youngest sister didn’t know any Spanish until high school Spanish and I speak French (my third language) better than she speaks Spanish.
English is the unifier to all the various races and ethnicities living in this mosaic of a nation and it is here to stay.
English will do as it always has, absorb other language’s linguistic distinctiveness and make them our own. Their grammar will adapt to serve English. Resistance is futile.
English will not dwindle.
Contrary to the popular beliefs of the extreme right and left, Hispanic immigrants don’t move here and not pick up the language. Typically they follow the same path as most immigrant groups before them. First gen born here most likely will be fluent in Spanish. Second gen, may or may not be. Third gen likely won’t be. Fourth gen probably won’t be.
Now, more people are also learning Spanish and actually speaking it than ever before, but this is not replacing English. This trend will not change. Institutional inertia will ensure that.
I think Spanish will come in as a strong second language (it already has), but English is the primary global language and so it will always be the primary language of the US until that changes.
No.
English is just easier, at this point, for everyone in the world to learn.
Airports speak it!
We do not speak German here now so it’s just nativist fear mongering if you hear people scream it.
The three generation rule will follow. Maybe because we border Latin America English will struggle to take as great a hold. But the rule applies. Over the years there will be rising amounts of Hispanic-Americans who only speak English.
Possibly someday, but not in my lifetime.
Most 3rd generation Latinos are overwhelmingly not bilingual and even 2nd generation Latinos are mostly English dominant.
It’s worth noting that, to my knowledge, most growth in the Latino demographic is to come from US born Latinos rather than immigration.
No way. English is too dominant and important in this country and throughout the world. But I did go to a McDonalds last week and the cashier started to speak Spanish to me. I’m Asian-American (English-speaking only) but I guess I could pass as Hispanic.
Considering by the second or third generation very few of those Spanish immigrants still speak Spanish, then no.
English is the defacto language of all Americans.
The only people who don’t speak it being first generation immigrants but even then they pick up on it fast.
As if you don’t speed English you opportunity are much smaller.
>I’ve seen a lot of people say that English is very less used in Hispanic dominated places of America and Spanish is the primary language in those places.
I’m 35 miles from Mexico, in a county where about 69% of people identify as Hispanic, and about 50% speak Spanish at home. There are some businesses where most of the signage is in Spanish, and one might occasionally do business with someone who speaks little English, but I would not say that Spanish is anywhere near being the primary language in this part of the borderlands. Almost every Spanish speaker has good English skills.
5% of Mexicans speak fluent English. 2% of Americans speak fluent Spanish.
English as a second language speakers: 1,077,000,000 (1.077 billion) (almost 4x more than the 2nd place second language)
Spanish as a second language speakers: 74,000,000 (74 million)
In total, English is spoken by more than 3x the people Spanish is.
Conclusion: English language will continue to dominate as a secondary language and its influence will only spread.
“Hispanic dominated places of America and Spanish is the primary language in those places.”
I need you to understand that “those places” are neighborhoods scattered around the country and tiny towns in border states, not whole cities or regions.
Yes, Spanish will get more influential. No I don’t think English is going anywhere.
It’ll stay the same i think Spanish will just become more important
No, although Spanish might someday become our unofficial ‘second language.’
Nope.
My parents are Puerto Rican and moved to the mainland in their teens. Spanish was their first language. My siblings and I don’t speak fluent Spanish.
My wife is 2nd generation immigrant from Peru. She speaks fluent Spanish, but her siblings do not. The younger our families get the less likely we are to speak Spanish fluently. My wife and I grew up in an area with a large Hispanic population.
I know this is anecdotal, but it’s true for other families I know as well.
No. Our unofficially official language is English.
The number of English vs Spanish language businesses is completely lopsided. The institutions with influence and money are almost purely “English first”. English is arguably the most important language internationally.
I’m very curious if you’re American, OP.
Something you have to keep in mind is the global presence of English. It being the main lingua franca for the world puts a heavy pressure on people to keep speaking it. Certainly way more than a relative minority of the local population being Spanish speaking.
English will still be very important but knowing Spanish will be more valuable in the future for sure.
There are parallels from the past. For like a 100 years there have been far more Americans of German descent than English, and the national language never shifted to German.
Although you used to be able to find German speakers and newspapers all over until WWI.
No, because English is the language used in government, business, transportation, etc. Spanish does not supplant English. Signs are sometimes posted in both languages to make things easier for recent immigrants but even that is only in some areas, not most of the country.
I’m Hispanic.
I can’t speak Spanish.
The influence of spanish language will increase, the language its really useful, many only speak spanish.
The English language persisted through the many huge waves of German immigration, and through the large waves of Russian and Italian immigration. I don’t see why this wave of immigration would be any different aside from maybe border communities being more bilingual.
Based on current trends, it looks like English is here to stay, but you never know 🤷♂️🤷♂️🤷♂️
Children of immigrants rarely speak Spanish as well as they think they do and the Spanish is gone in one or two more generations