English takes hold in Latino families by third generation, study says

Tyche Hendricks:

Almost all Latino adults born in the United States to immigrant parents are fluent in English, but among their parents, just fewer than 1 in 4 say they are skilled English speakers, according to a report released Thursday by the Pew Hispanic Center in Washington, D.C.

"The ability to speak English very well and the amount of English used increase sharply from one generation to another among Hispanics," said one of the report's authors, D'Vera Cohn. "The first generation speaks mainly Spanish and doesn't speak English very well. The second generation speaks English very well but holds onto its Spanish. And by the third generation and beyond, English is universal and pervasive, and Spanish fades into the background."

The results of the study are intuitive, but at a time of high levels of immigration and a debate over how well immigrants are integrating into American society, it provides a detailed snapshot of English acquisition over generations among Latino immigrants, who comprise the majority of foreign-born people residing in the United States.

Posted by Jim Zellmer at December 5, 2007 12:00 AM
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