El Papa habla español en su visita a EEUU

">I don't understand why you're so offended by this statement. Its a fact. For the most part, only hispanic immigrants, and their children (first generation americans) speak any spanish. It isnt sustained beyond that.<"

Not offended; because I already mentioned it in my first post - I posted an unbiased comment. Now...It is a fact that many Americans do not know their own history??? Did states such as Texas all the way to California magically become American out of the blue? I think not. What is demeaning in American society nowadays is that pretty much all the average (American) joe knows about is from World-War 2 and onward. So is this a fact? Or am I being one-sided? Are there exceptions of people - yes. Same applies to you my friend regarding Spanish being an immigrant language.

As for first generation hispanics being the last carriers of their native tongue might hold some ground here in California, however, the reason some of their offspring choose not to pass down the language (fully) is probably due to the fact that the U.S. downplays it as you have described it - and so many hispanics wanting to be accepted into American society obsolete their heritage, language and culture to a great degree - due to America's egotism of other peoples.

We've discussed this issue a million times here. I tend to agree with those who say that Spanish in the US should be (still) considered as a language of immigrants. Evidence for this is the fact that there doesn't seem to be any literary production in Spanish coming out of the United States (except for Latin American authors who happen to reside in the US, such as Isabel Allende).

Many books in Spanish are printed in Miami.

<<Did states such as Texas all the way to California magically become American out of the blue?>>

Yes...a long time ago, just not by way of magic.

They are now part of the united states, which is only an anglophone country, albeit with various ephemeral minority languages spoken by different IMMIGRANT populations over the years.

The only reason there are alot of spanish speakers now, is because of the constant flow of new latin american immigrants. In the past, italian, german, and various other languages were spoken by large populations (past immigrant waves); that doesnt mean that italian and german are "languages of the united states", just like spanish is not.

''Many books in Spanish are printed in Miami."

So? All media in spanish is targeted towards immigrants, just like there are newspapers printed in the united states in chinese, for IMMIGRANTS. Following your logic, does that make chinese a "language of the united states" also?

My point was that I cannot immediately think of an American-born author writing in Spanish and being widely published. Maybe you can prove me wrong by pointing to an example.

How about Maria Elena Salinas?

There is also Pat Mora. She writes poetry and books for children and young adults. She's prolific. Then there is Jorge Ramos, but he was born in Mexico.

There are some other examples, but the writers publish in both Spanish and English and their subjects are not literary ones.

<< the reason some of their offspring choose not to pass down the language (fully) is probably due to the fact that the U.S. downplays it as you have described it - and so many hispanics wanting to be accepted into American society obsolete their heritage, language and culture to a great degree - due to America's egotism of other peoples.>>


"blah blah blah" The above is typical trite nonsensical anti-american diatribe.

Immigrant populations always assimilate to the language of the country they immigrate to; not by force, or some other insidious intent, but by nature, and theres nothing wrong with that. The same is true globally, for immigrants to EVERY country. For example, a myriad of different groups immigrated to Brazil, and their descendents today only speak portuguese. What is the problem with that?

Many other immigrant minority languages have come and gone in the U.S and are no longer widely spoken; theres nothing unique about spanish.

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So? All media in spanish is targeted towards immigrants, just like there are newspapers printed in the united states in chinese, for IMMIGRANTS. Following your logic, does that make chinese a "language of the united states" also?

Does the Chinese language appear in the constitution of any US state?

Many native English speakers use the Hispanic media as a means of practising their Spanish.