Spanish in America Language of the ghetto?

[xchrom]

http://www.economist.com/blogs/johnson/2011/11/spanish-america

IN A comment on yesterday's post about Newt Gingrich, haragan, a commenter, asks "Can Johnson elaborate on the sociolinguistics of Spanish in America? It would be good to learn something about this topic."

As it happens, one of Johnson's first posts was on this subject. The short version: Spanish causes anxiety among many non-Latino Americans. Many believe that while previous waves of immigrants quickly learned English, today's Latino immigrants do not, retaining Spanish and refusing or ignoring English, enabled by widely available television and radio in Spanish.

All of the evidence is to the contrary. The first generation raised in America overwhelmingly learns English—one study has found that 94% of immigrants raised in concentrated communities like South Florida and Southern California speak English "well" or "very well" by 8th grade (roughly age 13). As the charts I posted last year demonstrate, the language Latino children growing up in America don't speak so well is Spanish. English abilities quickly improve through the generations; Spanish skills quickly decay. Typically the pattern is one of three generations: the arriving generation speaks Spanish and learns only limited English. The first generation raised in America speaks fluent English and some Spanish. The third generation is completely immersed and fluent in English, speaking little to no Spanish.

The reason so many Americans think that Latino immigrants don't want to learn English is because they see so much Spanish around them, including the much-loathed "Press 1 for English; oprima dos para español" in phone menus. But oprima dos isn't for Latino Americans who refuse to use English or can't. It's for the arriving generation of non-American immigrants, who haven't mastered English (and may never; adult language-learning is hard). The distinction is key; immigrants may not speak English, but their kids raised in America do.

[Sarah Ibarruri]

1. My first language is Spanish. My parents forced us to speak Spanish at home

They refused to respond when we spoke English at home. As a result, my Spanish is excellent! I am grateful for them having done that for us. I think it's pitiful when immigrants come to this country and lose their primary language, particularly in light of the fact that people are paying good money to become educated in a second language.

There are enclaves around the world in which the primary language is kept alive and is used as if it were the primary language. These areas are fascinating. For example, Miami, Florida, and Montreal, Canada. Of course, then there is Europe, where people speak multiple languages and are incredibly proud to do so.

Studies reflect that the brain of someone is more flexible and powerful when he/she speaks 2 or more languages, than if he/she is monolingual. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/3739690.stm.
This also makes perfect sense. Each language employs different parts of the brain.

In the U.S. people have a problem with other languages, and I suspect it has a good deal to do with the fact that our country is physically isolated, the towns and suburbs are distant, and we this isolates us from other countries and people that speak other languages. Also, right wingers wish to keep everything monolingual. As we have witnessed, right wingers are the #1 enemies of public education, or any education for the majority of Americans. They are on a never-ending questto destroy public education, and spend their life damaging it, so they can later say it's useless or no good when it has ceased to function properly. I suspect that a highly educated American public would not vote for such scumbags as Republicans, and Republicans are aware of this more than anyone.

[southernyankeebelle]

6. Your lucky. My mother is from Italy and my parents spoke their native

tongue when they didn't want us to know what they were talking about. Now I wish I had paid more attention. I can speak a little of the dialectic. I love to hear different languages.

[TygrBright]

2. When we came to el Norte´, I was interested to note the linguistic nuances...

...of a culture that had been based on several languages for many, many, generations.

We have six major languages here:

English, which is the primary language of the city, the tourist industry, the government, and Norteños of Anglo extraction, as well as recent Anglo incomers like me.

Spanglish, which has several versions and dialects. It is co-equal with English among many (most?) Norteños of Spanish extraction, although primary for some, and becomes primary by default, as it were, among recent immigrants whose first language is Spanish. Many (most?) Norteños eventually learn enough Spanglish to get by for casual interactions. Si´, bueno, amigo. Mil gracias!

Norteño Spanish, which is preserved in an idiosyncratic dialect among some isolated Norteño communities composed of Spanish-extraction families. This form of Spanish has many borrowings and transitional idioms from Tewa, Dineh, and English, as well as some archaic constructions and grammar preserved from the Colonial era. A modern speaker of Castiliano Spanish would find it comprehensible but odd. Modern speakers of Latin American Spanish understand it reasonably well. Speakers of Norteño Spanish can generally understand modern Castiliano and Latin American Spanish with some effort.

Latin American Spanish, which is spoken by recent immigrants, who are transitioning to English via Spanglish. Most of them grasp written English better than spoken, and can be fluent pretty quickly in their version of Spanglish.

Tewa, which nearly died out in the period of forced acculturation between the mid-nineteenth and late 20th centuries, and is being lovingly preserved and re-introduced among the northern Pueblos. Borrowings from Tewa infuse Norteño Spanish and Spanglish, and some are current in local English as well.

Dineh, which never complete died out during forced acculturation, as the Navajo Nation managed to avoid complete submersion. It is regaining currency as a primary language in the Nation, and some borrowings from it have entered other local languages. Yá´át´ééh!

As el Norte´ benefits from substantial (for our sparsely-inhabited region) immigration from Asia, we have a good many speakers of other languages also.

The key to getting by in this environment is twofold:

First, avoid presumptions and expectations about what languages others prefer. Someone who looks 100% Anglo might in fact be a Norteño of Spanish extraction who speaks Spanglish-infused English or even Norteño Spanish. Someone who looks Tewa might be Dineh. Someone who looks Latino might be from Pakistan. Use your own language by default, but be prepared to adjust.

Second, learn to adjust! Pick up enough Spanglish to get by--it's not difficult. Learn who in your daily environments speaks other languages and ask them for help as needed. If you are multi-lingual, prepare to give help. Treat cross-language barriers as just something to be dealt with, not as a "problem" or something that makes the person who doesn't speak YOUR preferred tongue inferior. Learn to smile a lot, speak slowly, and use expressive gestures. Listen carefully and pick up useful phrases.

I suspect that in the future, the rest of America will look linguistically more like el Norte´, and that's hopeful. We get by just fine and it's a wonderful, rich, challenging and rewarding cultural environment.

appreciatively,
Bright

[MineralMan]

3. Sadly, the US rates poorly for language skills.

It seems sometimes that there is an active resistance to second-language learning here, something I haven't encountered anywhere else in the world. Tourists from European countries who visit the US really need to have pretty good English skills, or they're going to encounter a lot of difficulty. The reverse, however, isn't true. American tourists can pretty much go anywhere, at least in Europe, and they'll find people who can deal with their lack of other languages.

I have two stories I can share:

When I was stationed in Turkey in the late 1960s, I was a Russian linguist in the USAF. I also had decent conversational French. One day, I was in a small shop in Samsun, Turkey, hanging out and drinking tea with the shopowner, who spoke French about as well as I did. I was just learning enough Turkish to get by, and he was one of my impromptu teachers. While I was there a Russian merchant seaman came into the shop. He had no Turkish abilities. So, he spoke to me in Russian, and I translated that into French for the shopkeeper. In return, the shopkeeper answered in French and I translated into Russian. The transaction was accomplished just fine.

Back in the US a couple of years later, I was at my local bank in a small town. A couple of French tourists were in the bank, attempting to cash some traveler's checks. The teller wasn't even trying to communicate to handle this simple job, and was looking bored and uncooperative. I stepped in and did the translation and the traveler's checks got cashed. There was not a single bank employee who had enough French to communicate with these tourists. I was a little surprised that the tourists didn't have enough English to get the job done, but...

[MedicalAdmin]

5. I always step in to help with other languages...

Even if I don't know it I usually recognize it and can call a friend how speaks it.

When I have traveled to other countries I have received the most amazing generosity from strangers who stepped in to help with directions, translations or other help. As American's we should exert the same graciousness to visitors to our country. They show great curiosity and desire to learn by coming here and we should behave appropriately.

[awoke_in_2003]

7. It is part and parcel of American exceptionalism...

"we are the greatest country in the world, why should we speak other languages?". It is a stupid mentality. I used to work for a Dutch company, and was told that, as students, they were learning German and English in grade school (when the mind is most receptive to it), and some French, too.

[Citizen Worker]

4. Two vignettes on children learning other languages. A cousin, who is married to a native of Madrid

Spain, both teach Spanish at the high school level. Their now six year old son was taught Spanish at home and attends weekly classes to learn to write in Spanish. At school and to others who don't speak Spanish, this youngster speak impeccable English.

A Persian friend has an uncle who married a Chinese national. They have two children. The father speaks to the children in Farsi, the mother in Chinese and the children communicate with each other in English.

Absolutely wonderful!!