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I don't think the OP premise that immigrants back in the day had to learn English is true. Not gonna go googling at this moment but I've read in the past that German was very widely spoken, used in print media, and used as the language of primary instruction (only in certain parts of certain states, obviously) until WWI when it basically had a precipitous drop.
And to this day German is still the third-most-spoken language in many states where they settled and have not had other more recent immigrant groups to knock that down (and comes in second in North Dakota). Like soug said a major difference with Spanish this time around is we haven't had a war that suddenly made the language and culture taboo, and if there had been radio or TV stations a century ago we probably would've had a large number of German-speaking ones like we have Spanish stations now.
And to this day German is still the third-most-spoken language in many states where they settled and have not had other more recent immigrant groups to knock that down (and comes in second in North Dakota). Like soug said a major difference with Spanish this time around is we haven't had a war that suddenly made the language and culture taboo, and if there had been radio or TV stations a century ago we probably would've had a large number of German-speaking ones like we have Spanish stations now.
Great post!
I've argued many times with a few east coasters about the strong German ethnic pockets in Wisconsin (they exist elsewhere, as well), and they tell me I'm "wrong" and that Germans are just Americans at this point and not distinct. Even though I grew up in a place where polka bands played regularly at events, men wore those furry German hats when dressed up in cold weather, people ate bratwurst and sauerkraut instead of burgers/dogs/bbq when grilling, folks still spoke German, etc. And yes, my grandparents told me the War(s) forced German Americans to keep their traditions low key and private instead of out in the open where there might be hostility, though the area was German dominated and those traditions carry on to this day.
Yet it is the Hollywood of Latin America. Too bad it's in Doral instead of Hollywood, FL!
Oddly enough, Univision and Telemundo cater to the dominant Mexican-American culture prevalent in most of the country. But the shows are made in cosmopolitan Miami!
They do not cater to Mexican-Americans, they cater to Latin American immigrants. Mexican-Americans rarely watch these channels.
They refer to/include Mexican artists alot to keep up their ratings, albeit in a hipocritical way. Mexican/Latin American grandma's and old aunts don't care about these things though...they just watch Don Francisco and laugh away. lol
In California, the mecca of the U.S. Hispanic population, the majority of 2nd and 3rd generation Hispanics can't speak it very well and when they try they speak Spanglish. So I believe Spanish will decline as immigration slows and the later generations assimilate.
Spanish will continue to grow....however if Trump is elected President...
Positives ALWAYS trumps negatives. Trump is only uniting Latinos of different backgrounds even more. It is also mobilizing people to vote. Trust me, you will see a tidal wave of Latino voting this year.
Ok so everyone in USA knows hat Spanish has grown so much in the last 40 years due to immigration.
I think Cuban immigration in the 1960s was really the beginning of it.
Now I do believe that it wasn't until 90s that people got pressured to know Spanish in order to get jobs.
Before 90s, I did hear that most people didn't care that much.
Now, I live in Queens, NY and just like every other cities in USA, Spanish is pretty damn big here.
Now some people are saying that Spanish will decline just like German, Italian, Polish did before, but I don't think this is the case.
German, Italian, and Polish eventually went away because immigration eventually stopped. Also, government didn't pander to immigrants back then like they do now.
Also, immigrants had to learn English and there was really no other way around it. Now, it's completely different. There are plenty of jobs without having to speak English and with Spanish channels and internet, it's so easy not to integrate to American society and not having to learn English.
So in this aspect, I think Spanish will definitely keep on growing.
Now having said that, immigration from Mexico and other Spanish speaking countries have declined little, and immigration shift is now going more toward to Asia. So we are seeing slow decline of immigration from Spanish speaking countries.
Now another thing is that I've been living in Queens since 1999 and I actually noticed Chinatown and Chinese communities whole lot faster than Hispanic community here. This is because Chinese people tend to live so close to each other, therefore making their community becoming bigger and Chinese employers almost always hire only Chinese people for jobs. Yeah they don't really let others get their jobs.
Also, China now has more immigrants coming in than Mexican immigration. (Immigration from entire Spanish speaking world is still bigger obviously, but it can change in the future).
So I actually see Chinese (mandarin) growing faster than Spanish. (Not number of speakers, but growth rate).
So my opinion is that Spanish will keep on growing, but from now on very slow rate and other Asian languages like Chinese will grow even faster.
So what are your opinions?
I know I'm a big late replying to the O.P. but here I go.
There are several studies out there that point out that immigration from Spanish speaking countries has declined over the last decade or so. Also, there's a ever-increasing number of U.S. born Latinos who are choosing English over Spanish in their daily lives. The Hispanic community is going through the same changes other ethnic groups went thorough in the past, such as Italian-Americans, Polish-Americans, German-Americans and so on. By the time they reach the third generation, many are abandoning their native language in favor of English. There are many third-generation grandchildren of Latino immigrants who don't speak Spanish. If this trend continues, and as Latin American economies stabilize themselves and immigration to the US continues to decline, there will be less Spanish spoken in the US in the upcoming decades, while the Hispanic population will actually increase, but it will be native born.
Up until 1970, German was the most spoken non-English language in the US. There are large German communities in the Midwest, but even they succumbed to speaking only English as the generations went on. I'm afraid something similar will happen with Spanish, although to a lesser extent.
The first generation Hispanics in the Southwest speak English far better than their parents. Many of them can write English better than Spanish as that is what they are taught in schools.
First generation means immigrant
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