[Aggie Mama]

MM, I really have to disagree with you on the assimilation. Where I live, I see NO effort at assimilation. It is too easy not to when there are Spanish radio & tv stations, newspapers, and even public school which teach in Spanish and English.

[OXENinFLA]

How about standing in the frozen food section of the grocery store and hearing an announcement (ad) over the loud speaker IN SPANISH!

[You Dirty Rats]

Go ahead and disagree.

I visited my father in the hospital last month in Miami (flew in from Cincinnati). Almost all of the nurses were Latina, as is my stepmother (who is from Venezuela and now an American Citizen). The nurse spoke in Spanish to my stepmother, then, thinking I was my stepmother son, gently chastized me for being like too many other Latinos born in the USA who don't bother learning Spanish!

From the earliest days of immigration, adults who came over did not always learn English, but their children did. You do not generally see third- and fourth-generation immigrants who don't speak English. It's the older folks who originally came over that still don't speak English.

[Miss Marple]

In another generation they will be assimilated, I believe. As I said, the original immigrants gfrom Germany never did learn much English. Their children and grandchildren did. That is why it is important to get the kids learning English and not do the Spanish language classes in schools. Most of the workers my son has on his crew use very little English, but they are trying to learn.

Of course, these guys go home every winter and don't come back until March. They are like the guest workers talked about in this program.