Young Hispanics no hablan Espanol

SunTimes.com ^ | May 13, 2003

[Sweet_Sunflower29]

About once a week, Lucia Margarita Rios gets a telemarketing call or a mailing in Spanish.

And she barely understands a word of it.

"They think because of my name that I am Spanish, but I only understand a few words before I stop them and tell them I just don't understand what they are saying," said Rios, a 22-year-old graduate of Roosevelt University.

She is among a growing number of young Hispanics who are the children of immigrant parents but never learned Spanish at home.

Figures from the 2000 U.S. Census show a large number of adult Illinois residents speak Spanish, but only a small percentage of children do. About 24 percent of Chicago adults between 18 and 64 years old speak Spanish at home. That number drops to less than 6 percent for kids 5 to 17.

"There are a couple of good reasons why this happens," said Kim Potowski, an assistant professor of Spanish at the University of Illinois at Chicago. "There are many of these kids who were born and raised in the United States, and the parents see how much they had to struggle [so] they are willing to sacrifice teaching them Spanish so their children can have the American dream."

She said some Latino immigrant parents come to this country with little education and immediately see the importance of having their children learn English. Ironically, Potowski said, it's the bilingual graduates who turn out to be more sought-after by employers and earn more money than non-Spanish-speaking Latinos.

Because of that, many of those children turn to schools to teach them about their heritage and their mother language. But that can prove challenging--and sometimes embarrassing.

"When you have a name like Lucia Margarita Rios, people wonder why you don't speak Spanish," said Rios, who took Spanish classes at Roosevelt.

She said her dad never taught her the language and was not close to his Mexican family. Rios last summer interned with the Pilsen/Little Village Information Center to learn more about her heritage--and practice her Spanish.

But some children of Latinos never picked up the language because of the negative stigma associated with being Hispanic in some communities. Laurel Martinez, a 20-year-old Chicago woman who grew up in Houston, said she resisted learning Spanish at home because she didn't want to be discriminated against.

She took a semester of Spanish at school but gave it up.

"People still come up to me and think I speak Spanish because I have dark hair and olivish skin," Martinez said. "I might try to take a class again someday."

That way, she can at least tell them, "No hablo Espanol."

[madfly]

ping

[Under the Radar]

I answer the phone in Vietnamese when it is likely a sales call. I did that to one lady who came right back at me in the language and we had a delightful conversation in a language her super could not understand.

LOL! Nice. :-)

[SAMWolf]

Right on the mark.

[Marine Inspector]

This is good news, to counter the despair of people who mistakenly think that Hispanics are not integrating themsleves into American society.

It's actually a complete opposite of your above statement.

She is part of a very small minority of Mexican immigrants, so no, this is not good news.

[Paulus Invictus]

Many of the Chicanos that took Spanish 101 with me, flunked out and left the class, never to return. Passing strange, until I realized their folks had been in LA for 50 years speaking Spanish while their kids ignored the language and learned English at school and on the street. More than half of the Mexican kids at our HS at the time did not speak Spanish, or claimed they didn't.

[sarcasm]

See:

Trapped Between 2 Languages

[Dan from Michigan]

I don't speak Gaelic and I have an Irish name.

[Under the Radar]

Many of the Chicanos that took Spanish 101 with me, flunked out and left the class, never to return. Passing strange, until I realized their folks had been in LA for 50 years speaking Spanish while their kids ignored the language and learned English at school and on the street. More than half of the Mexican kids at our HS at the time did not speak Spanish, or claimed they didn't.

The only problem with this is that, as I learned growing up on the U.S./Mexico border, these kids are illiterate in both English and Spanish. It is correct to say that they don't speak Spanish fluently. It is also true that they don't speak English fluently. Many of them cannot stay in one language for more than a few minutes, and that is very, very sad. Those cheering that assimilation is working need to look more closely.

[Under the Radar]

Bump. Good article.

[wardaddy]

Yo se.

Mis hijas quienes hablaban Espanol y Portugese cuando eran bieb joven, ahora solo hablan Ingles. My ex-esposa fue de Brasil.
Que pena, es mejor cuando possible habla mas que una idioma.

Ainda, yo puedo conversar en Espanol y Portugese pero yo leo Espanol mejor y habla Portugese mejor.

Nossa!

[wardaddy]

(bieb joven-bien joven...idiota!)

[cowgirlcutie]

It is strange that people think if you have a Hispanic surname or look hispanic, that you should speak spanish. I get stopped ALL the time by non-English speaking Hispanics, who start talking to me in Spanish and all I can say to them is that I don't speak Spanish. My grandparents and my mother spoke it, but never taught me, which was fine with me. Their motto was/is that we are Americans and therefore we speak English and proudly so!

[FITZ]

Many of them cannot stay in one language for more than a few minutes, and that is very, very sad.

More often not one sentence is one or the other language. The language is "Esta workine" (esta working, esta trajando, is working) or "Voy a comprar una troka" (troka = camion = truck), "da me la pencil". Viene por atras (he's returning). If someone from Mexico City or a Spanish speaking country listens they get mad and say that if this is the way they're going to speak Spanish they should forget it and just speak English. Sadly they can't speak either language.

[FITZ]

these kids are illiterate in both English and Spanish. It is correct to say that they don't speak Spanish fluently.

Which is why the very high drop out rate and when they give the TAAS test in Spanish the scores are terrible ---very many can't pass the test in either language.

[StarFan]

I'm sure you can explain why I have to chose from between two and four languages every time I call a utility or a business concern

I'm never given more than two choices -- English or Spanish -- which doesn't say much for the Latino intellect if our government and businesses feel Latinos are incapable of learning our language. I have yet to hear a group of Latinos ever speaking English to one another and I find this article hard to swallow as. Surely her family is the exception, not the rule.

[rmlew]

What is so odd about this?
I don't speak Polish, Swedish, or Yiddish. I understand a little of the last two, but to what end?

[Grand Old Partisan]

Good point. The key is whether kids born in the U.S. of Mexican parents speak English.

[FITZ]

I get stopped ALL the time by non-English speaking Hispanics, who start talking to me in Spanish and all I can say to them is that I don't speak Spanish.

We had a guy from India who looks like he could be Mexican where I work, he said a woman came up to him and spoke Spanish ---she apparently knew English well enough because when he told her he was sorry --he didn't speak Spanish she became very irate and began shouting at him that he should be ashamed for forgetting his language and told him he was an insult to his people ---then he calmly explained to her that he didn't forget his language but that he was from India not Mexico. I know a lot of people who have had people from Mexico chew them out for not speaking Spanish.

[DoughtyOne]

In my area we have to wade through Spanish, Armenian or English. Joy...

[RICK77]

***I have yet to hear a group of Latinos ever speaking English to one another and I find this article hard to swallow as. Surely her family is the exception, not the rule.***

I really think it depends on weather the "Latino" is
US-Born or a foreign born Immigrant. My wife is Latino and she speaks to 95% of her LATINO friends in English, my Kids speak to her parent in English.

My point is the Liberals have LUMPED the US-Born Hispanics with Immigrants and their Kids. US-Born HIspanics 98% Speak English, over 65% (2/3rds)Speak English as their DOMINANT Language and over 35% Speak English Only.

I really think when looking at Hispanics Linguistically the group needs to be broken down into Immigrants (Foreign Born), US 1 Generation, and US +2nd Generation. Obviously the Vast Bulk of English Dominant/Only Hispanics will be
US-Born, not the Immigrants from Mexico/Lat-Am.

Finally Intermarriage amongst Hispanics is MASSIVE. US-Born Hispanics (2nd Gen - Born to Immigrant Parents), bnearly 40% marry Whites, a further 10% marry other Ethnic Groups, therefore nearly Half of Hispanics Marry ourside the LAtino Group, by the 3rd Generation, the Clear Majority Marry Whites/Other Ethnic Groups. The Reason why the Intermarriage is so High for Latinos (particularly to White), is because in Latin American Culture, (my Wife told me) that apparently it "Improves the Raza" - Don't ask b'cos I don't get it myself.

As a previous poster Stated Resitance to "EVENTUAL" Assimilation is futile. However saying that we are (The USA) in a great danger of creating a Long Term/Permenant SPANISH LANGUAGE UNDERCLASS (Like many Lat-Am Countries have a Native American Speaking Underclass).....
To be honest I Strongly believe we already HAVE ONE..... Just go to Miami/LA/Cali or the Border Region and SEE FOR YOUR-SELF.

Ahhh Diversity it's great isn't it !!!

Cheers.