Majority of Hispanics Want Young People to Speak Spanish

*”[tweet_dis]Among third-generation Latinos, fewer than half report being able to speak proficiently or read in Spanish.[/tweet_dis]” Immigrant language loss is expected. So much attention is directed toward immigrants, but the majority of U.S. Latinos, who have been here for generations, know about language loss. VL

By Corey Mitchell, Education Week

An overwhelming majority of Hispanics say it is important that future generations of Hispanics living in the United States speak Spanish, according to a Pew Research Center Hispanic Trends report.

The survey, “When Labels Don’t Fit: Hispanics and Their Views of Identity” found that 75 percent of Hispanic adults say it is “very important” that young people speak Spanish[pullquote][tweet_dis]75 percent of Hispanic adults say it is “very important” that young people speak Spanish[/tweet_dis][/pullquote] while another 20 percent say it is “somewhat important.”

While [tweet_dis]nearly 90 percent of survey respondents still believe that Hispanic immigrants must learn English to succeed in the U.S[/tweet_dis], the authors argue that the findings “may reflect a recent shift in priorities,” with Hispanics now more likely to support bilingualism and heritage language retention.

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