The future of Spanish in the Southwestern U.S.

GG   Mon May 03, 2010 8:41 am GMT
<<Do white Americans know that they were immigrants too? Probably the biggest land grab in history happend in America. So why complain when latinos are doing it? >>


Um, ever heard of closing the door behind you?
Catholic priest   Mon May 03, 2010 9:56 am GMT
<<Do you think Spanish will become the dominant language in California, Texas, Arizona, New Mexico?>>

Yes, of course. That is the Justice of Jesus.

USA annexed illegaly the South to Mexico. At this moment the Americans prefer strange religions like Mormons and Scientiology.

That is a big sacriledge! These are religions of the Devil!

Jesus will give again the religion of God to all the United States thanks to the Hispanics.

The Catholic religion will be again in this noble country!
Bible Based Christian   Mon May 03, 2010 12:33 pm GMT
@ Catholic priest Mon May 03, 2010 9:56 am GMT

The illegal hispanic immigrants in the southwest have be thankful that it is part of the US because if it happened that it's part of Mexico, the people there would have been living in poverty.

If a survey is to be conducted among the hispanics of Southwest asking them if they are in favor to be still part of the US or be part Mexico, I'm so sure that they would choose to remain in the US for a very obvious and practical reason.

Don't ever say that the Catholic religion is the right one. You have to learn how to respect the faith of others and that's the secret why the US became so successful.

How would you feel, if I tell you that Chile, has the fastest economy in the entire Latin America because many of them switched to Evangelical Churches?
Franco   Mon May 03, 2010 3:50 pm GMT
<< How would you feel, if I tell you that Chile, has the fastest economy in the entire Latin America because many of them switched to Evangelical Churches?

>>

Then in Spain gypsys should be the ruling class as more than 90% of them belong to the Evangelical Church. On the other hand very rich people like las hermanas Koplowitz are of Jewish origin but converted to Catholicism. As for Chile obviously it is a lie, they are as Catholics like always. Other religions have very low presence.

I agree that Mexicans who migrated to USA prefer not being part of Mexico, otherwise they would have not migrated. But despite of that, they only ask for linguistic freedom and freedom is what has made US so successful. People who are against the Spanish language in USA are like those Southerners who supported slavery in 1860 and thus poverty and backwardness in these States as there was a enormous mass of people who worked for free. History repeats itself as these same southern States are against Spanish more than more civilised ones like Illinois , Washington or New York.
Harman   Mon May 03, 2010 8:58 pm GMT
I think most of U.S. people will learn spanish at diferent proficience levels at school / university or by themselves. But english will be used in the day by day.

In spain most of people learn english at school but they still use spanish in their lives.
Don Chicho   Tue May 04, 2010 9:22 pm GMT
">This whole illegal alien issue seems rather clear to me. They break U.S. law the moment they cross the border unauthorized or overstay their visas. They are criminals. Why can't Arizona police enforce the law and go after the criminals? Why are they allowed to bitch about their non-existent 'rights', which they don't have as non-citizens, and not arrested and sent back to their mother country which they obviously love so much? Oh by the way, Mexico has much tougher laws against illegal immigration than the U.S.; in fact, non-citizens there are prohibited by LAW to engage in political activity. So what would happen to these people if they tried something like that as illegal aliens in Mexico? That's right, mass deportation within 24 hours.>"

One-sided I would say. Arizona cannot manipulate a Federal attribute. Immigrants can march because the U.S.A at a federal level believes in freedom of speech. Let's not forget that immigrants of the early 20th century did the same thing, Americans have a very short-memory span. Mexico may have stricter laws towards immigrants only prior to 2000 iit had been controlled by the right-wing nuts for 70 years (el Pri) and they established strict laws. Nowadays...a moderate govt. (el Pan) controls the country. I believe Spaniards and Argentineans are given free amnesty - if they so wish to be Mexican.


">NEVER....not even in the most "hispanic" areas of the united states will this ever happen. Like all immigrant languages, Spanish is going through generational decay."

U.S. Americans are not faciliating the process. It helps that Mexico is a neighboring country...something that other immigrants didn't/don't have. Spanish will always have a presence in the U.S.A. Sorry bub!

">Myth. No it isn't.<"

Google it. The only myth is that Spanish will disappear.

">Did German become a "dominant" language in the U.S? (there are more people of German ethnicity in the U.S than hispanic) Did Italian? No, and neither will Spanish, nor should it be.<"

None of these became dominant due to a lack of a neighboring country that spoke that language on the border with the U.S. Plus...corporations/companies that live off cheap labor keeps the influx of immigrants coming and coming.
BB   Wed May 05, 2010 1:10 am GMT
Why not make Mexico another state of the USA?
You can then call it then New Mexico and forced them to speak English......

OOOOHH wait that already happend!!
Don Chicho   Wed May 05, 2010 3:47 am GMT
">Why not make Mexico another state of the USA?
You can then call it then New Mexico and forced them to speak English......OOOOHH wait that already happend!!<"


Hold your horses bub!

According the 2000 U.S. Census, 28.76% of the population aged 5 and older speak Spanish at home, while 4.07% speak Navajo. Speakers of New Mexican Spanish dialect are mainly descendants of Spanish colonists who arrived in New Mexico in the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries.

New Mexico is commonly thought to have Spanish as an official language alongside English, due to the widespread usage of Spanish in the state. Although the original state constitution of 1912 provided for a temporarily bilingual government, New Mexico has no official language. Nevertheless, the state government publishes a driver's manual as well as ballots in both languages (though it is required to publish ballots in Spanish by federal law).

The constitution provided that, for the following twenty years, all laws passed by the legislature be published in both Spanish and English, and thereafter as the legislature should provide. Prior to 1967, notices of statewide and county elections were required to be printed in English and "may be printed in Spanish." Additionally, many legal notices today are required to be published in both English and Spanish

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Mexico

p.s. This is commonly practiced in many Southwestern states, as in other states where there are large hispanic communities.
FYI   Thu May 06, 2010 1:06 am GMT
ERIC Identifier: ED335176
Publication Date: 1991-05-00
Author: Santiestevan, Stina
Source: ERIC Clearinghouse on Rural Education and Small Schools Charleston WV.

Use of the Spanish Language in the United States: Trends, Challenges, and Opportunities. ERIC Digest.

Continuing controversy about the nation's non-English speakers--particularly its Spanish speakers--often prompts two questions. First, will the use of Spanish diminish or grow more widespread? Second, is the use of the Spanish language only a challenge for educators and citizens, or does it also present opportunities as yet unrealized?

This Digest addresses policymakers, administrators, and teachers of Spanish-speaking students. It is based largely on a study by sociologist Calvin Veltman (1988), The Future of the Spanish Language in the United States. The Digest examines the Spanish-speaking group in the United States, its growth through net immigration and natural increase, and its eventual decline as speakers shift to English.

THE NUMBERS

Not all U.S. Hispanics speak Spanish, of course, but almost all U.S. Spanish speakers are Hispanic, and the Hispanic population is growing rapidly. In 1989, the nation's Hispanic population was estimated to be 20.1 million, a 39 percent increase over the 1980 Census figure of 14.5 million. The rate of increase for the total U.S. population was 9.5 percent, but for the non-Hispanic population it was 7.5 percent. Hispanics were 8.2 percent of the population in 1989, compared to 6.5 percent in 1980 (Hispanic Policy Development Project, 1990).

The Hispanic Policy Development Project (HPDP, 1990) has projected the following U.S. Hispanic population figures:

1990: 22,024,000

1995: 27,692,000, and

2000: 34,818,000.

Due to immigration and natural increase, the number of U.S. Spanish speakers will continue to grow (for example, Word, 1989), but the recent study by Veltman (1988) sharply contradicts the widespread impression that Hispanic immigrants to the United States resist learning English.

Despite public opinion to the contrary, the data suggest that U.S. Hispanics--both native born and immigrants--do learn and speak English. Moreover, they want their children to speak English (Veltman, 1988). After 10 to 15 years in the United States, some 75 percent of all Hispanic immigrants are speaking English regularly, and virtually all their children will speak English.

The maintenance of Spanish language use in the United States depends on the continuous arrival of new Hispanic immigrants. Because of ongoing immigration, bilingualism may indeed persist longer among Hispanics than it did among other immigrant groups, particularly in certain parts of the country. But continuing immigration does not delay the learning of English by immigrants who are already here or by the native born (Veltman, 1988).

Veltman developed unique population models simulating the flow of immigrants and their children into national language communities. His model is similar to that used by the U.S. Census Bureau (for example, U.S. Bureau of the Census, 1982), but adds language practice and language change factors (Veltman, 1988, chapter 10). Although he analyzes much of the language data collected by the Census Bureau, his projections are based largely on data derived from the Bureau's 1976 Survey of Income and Education. This survey contains the best available data for both mother tongue and current language use.

In 1976, some 10.5 million people in the United States spoke Spanish. Of these, only about 4.5 million were mainly Spanish-speaking, including 2 million who spoke Spanish only occasionally. However, some of those who have shifted to English were not counted; lost to the surveys are Hispanics who speak English and live in households where English is the principal home language. They likely have been classified as "Anglophones," persons of English mother tongue in Veltman's terminology. ("Mother tongue" is the language first learned and spoken as a child.)

Using a model that projects a net Hispanic immigration of 250,000 per year, Veltman predicts that the Spanish-speaking group, both monolingual and bilingual, will total 16.6 million by the year 2001 (Veltman, 1988, p. 102). Of these, some 95 percent of the immigrant population will have Spanish for their mother tongue. However, only a bare majority of the native born will be given Spanish as their first language. This fact is of pivotal importance.

DO THEY LEARN AND USE ENGLISH?

How rapidly individuals learn English and how much English they speak is related to how long they have been in the United States and how old they were when they arrived. Almost all Hispanic immigrants remain lifetime bilinguals; they use different languages in different situations. But the language shift process begins immediately upon an immigrant's arrival in the U.S., progresses rapidly, and ends within approximately 15 years. The younger the person, the more complete is the movement to English (Garcia, 1983; Veltman, 1988).

With respect to immigrant children, 70 percent of those 5 to 9 years of age, after a stay of about 9 months, speak English on a regular basis. After 4 years, nearly all speak English regularly, and about 30 percent prefer English to Spanish. After 9 years, 60 percent have shifted to English; after 14 years--as young adults--70 percent have abandoned the use of Spanish as a daily language. By the time they have spent 15 years in the United States, some 75 percent of all Hispanic immigrants are using English every day (Veltman, 1988, p. 44).

The future of the Spanish language in the U.S. depends on the language choices of persons of Spanish mother tongue; what language will they give to their children? The use of English by parents leads inexorably to the birth of children whose mother tongue becomes English (Garcia, 1983; Veltman, 1988).

THE LANGUAGE-SHIFT PROCESS

Like the language shift of immigrants before them, that of Spanish-speaking immigrants spans three generations.

* The generation of immigrants continues to speak Spanish, although most also speak English regularly. More than half the immigrants arriving in the United States before age 14 make English their usual everyday language, and Spanish becomes a second language. A small number, in fact, no longer speak it at all.

* Their children speak English fluently, although they may use Spanish as a second language. A significant number, however, are given English as their mother tongue, and 7 out of 10 become English speakers for all practical purposes.

* Virtually all their grandchildren will have English for their mother tongue, and they will speak Spanish seldom, if at all.

Thus, the maintenance of Spanish language use in the U.S. requires a continuous flow of new Hispanic immigrants. According to Veltman's model, a break in the immigrant stream would stabilize the size of the Spanish-speaking population for about 15 years. After such a break, decline would become increasingly more rapid.

CONCLUSIONS

Given the inevitable shift of Spanish speakers to the use of English, what are the policy implications? They entail several conclusions and recommendations (Estrada, 1988; Veltman, 1988), as follows.

* The English language is not endangered by the use of Spanish.

* Simple courtesy suggests that essential public announcements and services should be provided in Spanish, especially for the very young and the elderly.

* Many more English classes for adults are needed. Current waiting lists are long in many communities--notably in New York City and Los Angeles--with large and growing concentrations of Hispanics.

* Spanish-speaking children need bilingual education.

* Bilingual capabilities should be encouraged generally--among everyone, regardless of mother tongue.

Bilingual education programs do not slow the process of language shift to English (HPDP, 1988; Veltman, 1988). The purpose of such programs, after all, is to smooth the transition to English, not to maintain Spanish.

But bilingual classes do enable Hispanic children to maintain their grade levels and to avoid being held back, while at the same time learning English (Veltman, 1983). The children will--in any case--learn English, but, according to the Hispanic Policy Development Project:

"These children are best served by programs that teach English and simultaneously develop basic reading and computation skills in Spanish....At present, less than a quarter of Hispanic children who need language assistance are enrolled in transitional bilingual or other programs designed to expedite language shift and provide basic skills education." (HPDP, 1988, pp. 9, 26)

Nicolau and Valdivieso (1988) report that 25 percent of Hispanic students fall behind their classmates and are overage as they begin high school. According to this account, poor academic performance and being older in grade than their peers contribute significantly to the high Hispanic dropout rates of 45 to 50 percent.

Nicolau and Valdivieso also suggested that the bilingual capabilities of the nation's Spanish speakers, currently scorned, should be put to use. By some estimates, there will be 550 million Spanish-speaking consumers in Latin America by the year 2000. With some foresight, the U.S. economy and national influence could be enhanced by the preservation of a pool of literate Spanish speakers. Data from the National Center for Education Statistics show, however, that only 4 percent of Hispanic students sign up for the three years of high school Spanish that would develop the necessary literacy.

REFERENCES

Estrada, L. (1988). Policy Implications of Hispanic Demographics (Tomas Rivera Center Report, Vol. 1, No. 1). Claremont, CA: Tomas Rivera Center.

Garcia, E. (1983). Early Childhood Bilingualism, with Special Reference to the Mexican-American Child. Albuquerque, NM: University of New Mexico Press. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 233 564)

Hispanic Policy Development Project. (1988). Closing the Gap for U.S. Hispanic Youth: Public/Private Strategies. Washington, DC: Hispanic Policy Development Project. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 298 242)

Nicolau, S., & Valdivieso, R. (1988). The Veltman report: What it says, what it means. In C. Veltman, The Future of the Spanish Language in the United States (pp. i-ix). Washington, DC: Hispanic Policy Development Project. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 295 485)

United States Bureau of the Census. (1982). Ancestry and Language in the United States: November 1979 (Current Population Reports, Special Studies, Series P-3, No. 116). Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 227 680)

United States Bureau of the Census. (1989). The Hispanic Population in the United States: March 1988. (Current Population Reports, Series P-20, No. 438). Washington, DC: Bureau of the Census, U.S. Department of Commerce. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 299 081 [Advance Report])

Veltman, C. (1983). Language Shift in the United States. Amsterdam, the Netherlands: Mouton Publishers.

Veltman, C. (1988). The Future of the Spanish Language in the United States. Washington, DC: Hispanic Policy Development Project. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 295 485)

Word, D. (1989). Population Estimates by Race and Hispanic Origin for States, Metropolitan Areas, and Selected Counties: 1980-1985 (Current Population Reports, Series P-25, No. 1040-RD-1). Washington, DC: Bureau of the Census, U.S. Department of Commerce. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 316 453)

http://www.ericdigests.org/pre-9221/spanish.htm

La Herencia

La Herencia was voted the City's Official Publication of the Santa Fe 400th Anniversay in 2006 by the Santa Fe City Council.

La Herencia continues in the tradition of the Spanish press in the Southwest that began in Santa Fe in 1834 and, ironically, ended in Santa Fe in 1958. Once again in Santa Fe, La Herencia began publication in 1994.

LA HERENCIA WAS FOUNDED BY SANTA FE NATIVE, ANA PACHECO, IN RESPONSE TO THE RAPID DECLINE OF THE
SPANISH LANGUAGE AND HISPANIC CULTURE OF NEW MEXICO. The quarterly publication provides information on Hispanic culture with articles written by local historians from New Mexico and the Southwest. The editorial consists of oral history, Spanish language and Southwestern literature, book reviews, poetry, recipes, myths and other forms of Spanish and Mexican folklore retold with documentary photographs and illustrations. Current issues and trends are also covered. La Herencia is the only publication of its kind written about Hispanic culture by Hispanics from the Southwest. La Herencia is the publication for Hispanic literary arts in the 21st century.

http://www.santafe400th.com/index.php?page=la-herencia