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Immigrants' children grow fluent in English, study says
LA Times ^ | 30 November 2007 | Anna Gorman,

Posted on 11/30/2007 10:44:02 AM PST by shrinkermd

study released Thursday by the Pew Hispanic Center, a project of the Pew Research Center, reports that in families like the Peredas, for whom Spanish is the dominant language among immigrant parents, English fluency increases across generations. By the third generation, Spanish has essentially faded into the background.

Latinos recognize that learning English is key to economic success, according to the study, which was based on survey data collected between 2002 and 2007.

"The ability to speak English is a crucial skill for getting a good job and integrating into the wider society," said D'Vera Cohn, a senior writer at the research center, a nonpartisan research organization that does not advocate immigration policy. "Language is a vehicle for assimilation."

Though the findings echo the history of immigration waves in the U.S., experts said, they counter the widespread perception that Latino immigrants do not assimilate and that their large numbers are a threat to the English language.

"People get very upset about 'Press 2 for Spanish,' " said Rubén G. Rumbaut, a UC Irvine sociology professor who has done his own research on the language issue.

But "there is no way English is being threatened by immigrants. . . . The switch to English is taking place perhaps more rapidly than it has ever in American history."

English fluency has long been at the center of the immigration debate in Southern California and around the nation. At the city and state levels, language battles are being fought over school tests, storefront signs and local ballots. In Congress, legislators recently sparred over sanctions against employers who require workers to speak only English.

(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial; Foreign Affairs; US: California
KEYWORDS: aliens; english; englishfirst; esl; illegals; immersion; immigrantlist; spanish
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1 posted on 11/30/2007 10:44:04 AM PST by shrinkermd
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To: shrinkermd
People get very upset about 'Press 2 for Spanish - One of my favorite scenes in Chinatown Jack Nicholson asks this kid on a horse a question, the kid looks at him, Nicholson then says "hable Anglise?" the kid says - si
2 posted on 11/30/2007 10:48:32 AM PST by SF Republican
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To: shrinkermd

Good! Then there should be NO PROBLEM WHATSOEVER making English the official, and ONLY, language in which government business is to be transacted!

}:-)4


3 posted on 11/30/2007 10:49:56 AM PST by Moose4 (Wasting away again in Michaelnifongville.)
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To: shrinkermd
According to a 2005 study by Edward Lazear, who is currently the top economic advisor in the White House,

Mexican immigrants assimilate more slowly than other immigrants as reflected in English fluency.

and,

The source of the problem seems to be US immigration policy.
4 posted on 11/30/2007 10:52:08 AM PST by ruination
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To: shrinkermd
The language issue really isn't my biggest concern.
The immigrants really aren't my biggest concern either (after all, I'm descended from immigrants).

What pisses me off are the criminals invading our country by pouring over our southern border.

Build the fence!

5 posted on 11/30/2007 10:52:49 AM PST by ClearCase_guy (The broken wall, the burning roof and tower. And Agamemnon dead.)
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To: shrinkermd

If so, why are American companies spending BILLIONS of dollars printing labels, signs and direction en Espanol?

That’s BILLIONS that could be spent on the children!


6 posted on 11/30/2007 10:58:08 AM PST by rightinthemiddle (Without the Media, the Left and Islamofacists are Nothing.)
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To: shrinkermd

bump


7 posted on 11/30/2007 10:58:53 AM PST by VOA
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To: shrinkermd

My kids go to school with a lot of Hispanics, some Asians and a couple of Russians so there are a lot of kids in ESL (English as a Second Language). Once in awhile I hear about other kids teasing the ESL kids, and I tell my children - yeah, but in a year or so they’ll know two languages and everyone else will still just know one.

Some of the kid’s parents make an effort to speak english and others don’t. Its pretty tough when you have to translate everything through the kids.


8 posted on 11/30/2007 10:59:53 AM PST by geopyg (Don't wish for peace, pray for Victory. ------ www.gohunter08.com ------)
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To: shrinkermd

My favorite anecdote was when a friend who is fluent in Spanish went up to a gardener and started talking to him in Spanish. The guy replied “Escuse me, me no speeky sponnish”


9 posted on 11/30/2007 11:03:17 AM PST by ElkGroveDan (If Rudy's an influential conservative, then I'm an award winning concert pianist.)
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To: shrinkermd
LA Times might as well say this:

Nothing wrong with unlimited immigration, as a matter of fact it is diversity uber alles. Because every issue from global warming to balloon mortgages is seen thru the prism of race, everything. We wake up in the morning thinking about race, go to bed with it on our minds, always and forever.

10 posted on 11/30/2007 11:03:19 AM PST by central_va
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To: geopyg

many immigrant parents try, but I think some get more overwhelmed. I remember my great grandmother speaking english but very poorly. she lasped back into polish. we were not taught polish, which in some ways i felt the wrong thing. embace your past, but don’t bring it front and center.


11 posted on 11/30/2007 11:06:39 AM PST by HotTubDave
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To: shrinkermd

This story highlights the biggest scam by illegal aliens and the reason why Spanish IS taking over...

http://www.brownsvilleherald.com/news/border_82474___article.html/patrol_hospital.html


12 posted on 11/30/2007 11:19:06 AM PST by goalseven
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To: rightinthemiddle
American companies spending BILLIONS of dollars printing labels, signs and direction en Espanol?

I went to BestBuy this week to get a DVD player. I found on and picked up the box to read the specs......everything on the box was in Spanish, everything! Not one work in English that I could find on any side of the box. Needless to say, I put the box back and chose another player.

I get POed when the boxes are turned so the Spanish is what shows on the shelf and the English is to the back.

13 posted on 11/30/2007 11:40:03 AM PST by YellowRoseofTx
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To: shrinkermd
By the third generation, Spanish has essentially faded into the background.

Hurrah! Every family I grew up with that had grandparents from Poland, Croatia, Czechoslovakia, Italy, Serbia, Germany, etc. all had parents speaking English as well as the grandparents.

It only them three generations.

14 posted on 11/30/2007 11:43:52 AM PST by raybbr (You think it's bad now - wait till the anchor babies start to vote.)
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To: shrinkermd

I have two families within a hundred feet of me that I would like to be able to communicate with, but even the older children are pretty weak in English, so the conversation consists of very simple and quick statements and then we have to break it off.


15 posted on 11/30/2007 11:44:21 AM PST by ansel12 (Proud father of a 10th MountaiPn veteran. Proud son of a WWII vet. Proud brother of vets, Airborne)
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To: raybbr
It only them three generations.

It only takes hispanics three generations.

16 posted on 11/30/2007 11:45:41 AM PST by raybbr (You think it's bad now - wait till the anchor babies start to vote.)
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To: raybbr

Thats if they make it to a third generation. My US born father was repatriated to Mexico in 1931 along with my grandparents and great grandparents. They had been here since 1918 and just walked across the border. nobody had to sneak in. My grandparents were in the US long enough to learn English. The great depression changed everything. Either way my father grew up in Mexico speaking only Spanish and eventually returned to the US as an adult. English for me was a second language.


17 posted on 11/30/2007 12:00:03 PM PST by californio (Coast Guard Vet)
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To: shrinkermd

I’m a native Texan. I hope to be fluent in English one day, myself, good buddy.


18 posted on 11/30/2007 12:01:05 PM PST by willgolfforfood
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To: shrinkermd

So, if we let in 100 million, in 3 generations, when there are say......half a billion of them, they will all speak English?


19 posted on 11/30/2007 12:05:26 PM PST by wolfcreek (The Status Quo Sucks!)
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To: californio

If we eliminiated welfare and subsidized housing, and enforced stiff penalties for hiring illegals, we wouldn’t even need a fence. However, since there is no way welfare will ever be eliminated now, given that so many welfare leeches and white guilt liberals vote, we’ll need the fence.


20 posted on 11/30/2007 12:07:43 PM PST by fr_freak
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