Percentage of Asian Americans who can speak a second Asian language

[jpchi60630]

Thanks. i wasn't exactly sure how many different dialects or formal languages of the phiilipines there are. its kinda like how many islands that make up the phiilipines. hundreds if not thousands. It's easy to see why everyone back home might speak a different language depending on what part i'm visiting. The world is a big place. More people if they could afford it, should get out of the continental 48 or leave north america altogether to visit asia, europe or the the rest of the world. Im certainly looking fwd to my trip down under to australia. Ive always wanted to go there i cant wait for the holidays! speaking another language has only helped me in my experiences. Kinda like the time in 2010 when i got pulled over in the SM ortigas center parking lot by metro manila police for entering a mall parking lot from the main road which was an exit only. lol oops.

And lol lifeshadower. I may be of Filipino ancestry too, but lol i feel you on the stickin out like a sore thumb sometimes. Especially when im at the airport or the first time i walk into the hotel and they all lookin at me speakin tagalog with an american chicago accent to it. LOL id be a rich man if i got a quarter everytime someone said "what? what was that you said?" to me in tagalog... makes me snicker just thinkin of it...

[Clodius et Claudius.]

Koreans are very good at preserving their native language.

We Chinese, not so much. 80% of our second generation can barely write a word in Chinese. Some can't even speak it!

The situation is so bad that at a Chinese restaurant, the waiters default to English when speaking to any Chinese under age 30!!!

[hlcc]

Chinese American. I can speak Mandarin fluently and I use Mandarin when talking to my parents and wife even though they are all fluent in English. When I do have kids, I'll definitely use only Mandarin with them.

[David_J]

Chinese-Indonesian American here (moved to the US at the age of two, so I remember nothing about Indonesia, where I was born). I, along with many of my Asian immigrant peers, can fully understand but can't speak native languages well. Same thing goes with reading and writing - we can read in our language, but not write.

[portlanderinOC]

I'm not sure what the exact percentages are, but generally kids with parents who don't speak English that well do end up teaching their kids their native tongue. Since a lot of Asians under 30 are 1st or 2nd generation immigrants, I would imagine this is quite common.

[payutenyodagimas]

Originally Posted by Clodius et Claudius.

Koreans are very good at preserving their native language.

We Chinese, not so much. 80% of our second generation can barely write a word in Chinese. Some can't even speak it!

The situation is so bad that at a Chinese restaurant, the waiters default to English when speaking to any Chinese under age 30!!!

that's true to all immigrants..2nd generation, can still speak the language of the parents..3rd generation..you are lucky if they care about language of their ancestors