Pew Hispanic Center Study Suggests Linguistic Challenges Ahead for U.S.

U.S. English Chairman Mauro E. Mujica comments on groundbreaking report

This morning the Pew Hispanic Center released the results of a comprehensive survey highlighting English fluency among Latino immigrants and native born Latinos, English Usage Among Hispanics in the United States. The entire report is available from the Pew Hispanic Center at http://www.pewhispanic.org.

Included its many findings, the in-depth report revealed that:

• 71 percent of Mexican immigrants speak little or no English.

• 23 percent of first generation Latinos speak English very well, 88 percent of second generation Latinos and 94 percent of third generation and higher Latinos speak English very well.

• 52 percent of foreign born Hispanics speak Spanish at home.

• 46 percent of Latinos believe that language is the primary cause of discrimination against them.

Below are observations from U.S. English, Inc. Chairman Mauro E. Mujica regarding these findings.

* The finding that 71 percent of Mexican immigrants speak little or no English.
"While we can always expect the first generation to struggle with learning English, the fact that more than 7-in-10 Mexican immigrants barely speak the common language of this country is evidence of a major social challenge. It also serves as a clear rebuttal to those who say that we do not have a "language problem" in the United States.

"These immigrants are unable to experience the job opportunities available to English speakers. Furthermore, their inability to speak English also affects the development of future generations, keeping them from assisting their kids in navigating the education process. Most important, they will be locked out of the naturalization process."

* The finding that 23 percent of adult first generation Latinos speak English very well, 88 percent of adult second generation Latinos and 94 percent of adult third generation and higher Latinos speak English very well.
"This fact contains both enlightening and disheartening statistics, but it also requires an asterisk. On the positive side, it is clear that the third generation of Latino immigrants is, for the most part, following the pattern of past immigrants when it comes to assimilation. On the negative side, there is still six percent of the Latino population that was born in this country and whose parents were born in this country who are fully fluent in English. This is not a trivial number. Census 2000 found that there were more than 2.0 million Americans who were born in the United States who spoke little or no English; of these, more than 1.5 million were Spanish speakers.

"Finally, this generational study needs to come with a caveat. The third-generation Latinos in the United States today are the grandchildren of immigrants who came to the United States before the great waves of Latino immigration began in the 1980s. They are a product of a time when there were few multilingual government services and the number of Mexican immigrants was virtually equal to the number of Polish, German, and Italian immigrants living in the United States. The number of Mexican-born Americans has increased 10 times over the last 40 years, not including immigrants from other Spanish speaking countries.

"As a past Pew Hispanic Center survey noted, the average age of a second generation Latino in the United States in 2000 was 13. Therefore, we cannot yet measure the English proficiency of most of the second generation and nearly all the third generation during the era when government multilingualism and native language support have flourished. It could well turn out to be the same as the past, and it may not be the same as the past, but in either case, it is too early to tell."

* The finding that 52 percent of foreign-born Hispanics speak Spanish at home.
"Even though I am a 37-year citizen of the United States, I still speak my native Spanish at home. There is absolutely nothing wrong with maintaining the native language. Travel to any neighborhood in the United States and you will find homes where Spanish is spoken, German is spoken, or Japanese is spoken. This is a testament to our diversity. However, the testament to our strength has been the ability to forge unity from that diversity through the common language of English."

* The finding that 46 percent of Latinos believe that language is the primary cause of discrimination against them.
"There is no place in America for discrimination. Most people facing a less than desirable outcome in a job interview or an application process will often assume that the root cause for that rejection was "discrimination."

"However, while there are certain types of discrimination our society should not tolerate, there are certain areas where skills and abilities differentiate one applicant from another. A telephone operator should not be selected or rejected because of his native language, but it is plausible that he will be chosen because of his English fluency. Similarly, a college applicant should not be judged on her nativity, but it is fair for the school to apply standards based on grade point average.

"While the 46 percent figure may seem disturbing, consider that, according to a series of surveys taken in 2006, 77 percent of Americans believe there is some or a great deal of discrimination against African Americans, 71 percent believe there is some or a great deal of discrimination against Muslims, 69 percent against Hispanics, 66 percent against women, 64 percent against the elderly, 58 percent against Jews, 53 percent against Asians, and 43 percent against whites."