Topic: The USA is now the world’s second largest Spanish-speaking country (Read 2108 times)

This is because of migration from Latin America

This is ridiculous. You can't compare the situation in 1492, to the one which exists now. Back in the 15th and the 16th centuries, the natives were exterminated by the colonizers, and therefore their languages became extinct. Back then, some 25,000 languages were in use in the Americans, of which less than 4% survives to this date. No one is going to exterminate the present Americans.

English will remain as the dominant language in the US. Even the Spanish speakers are shifting to English in good numbers. Only the lowest income groups are continuing to use Spanish.

I think the best chioce is to look at this as at a kind o natural process. Everything regarding human demographics is changing very quickly, but that's nothing new. The modern English that's now in use doesn't have very much to do with that from, for example, 500 years ago. The same goes for all the other aspects of human life. 700 hundred years ago there was nobody in both Americas that could speak Spanish or English. Now there's almost nobody who speaks native languages of Indians who once were the only race living there. That's normal, nothing lasts forever. Probably every nation o dominating language will someday be replaced by some other. 

 Hola , no hablo espanol

That's what I know about Spanish

What an idiot.

The Albanians in your country where living there for the past many centuries. When Macedonia became independent in 1991, these people were granted citizenship (before that, they were the citizens of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia). Most of the Spanish speakers living in the US are illegal immigrants, who don't hold the American citizenship.

25% of your population are illegals that get free social services from your government? Ok maybe not all. 20? 15? 10%? You must be living in a rich country.

 

well for a country big as the United States of America it is not weird to have that many Spanish-speaking people. There are around 320 million people in the United States of America so 41 million people is around 15%. I am from Macedonia, it is a country with around 2 million people and 25% of them are Albanian. That is a larger percentage than the one in United States, right? And also, it should be weird that there are so many people from Mexico everybody is looking for a way to make more money and to have a better living.

It looks like mexico has conquered the usa.

i guess the number would gradually decrease after obama,i guess this is bad for illegal immigrants.or what else ?

The politicians did take responsibility. 0bama bet on bringing a maximum of illegals so they would become democrats later, locking the democrat party in the U.S. forever with a majority. The last time, Reagan helped generations of Hispanics to vote republican.

The thing that is insane this time is the 0bama administration stopped illegals from going through the normal procedure of medical check up. Doctors would quarantine obvious major cases. Not anymore. Google the new cases of sickness, especially in California, not seen in years or longer. Already plenty of victims and death, thanks to politicians wanted to leave a mark of their ego in history...

It seems that USA have similar problem with immigration like Europe.
In Europe, as in America, come poor and unskilled immigrants, families with many children, often illegally, and when they can not find work they seek help from the state.
Therefore, states no longer have enough money to help their own residents, they have to abolished some social rights, their people are frustrated and angry, right-wing parties have become increasingly popular etc.
I'm not sure what is the definitive solution for this difficult problem but politicians should take responsibility for this crisis finally. 

80% of California Latino Illegal Immigrant Families Live in Poverty – Need Government Assistance


The United Way study – “Struggling to Get By” – delves well beyond even the recent Census Bureau analysis, which, by factoring in housing costs, already established California as the state with the highest percentage of poor people, at roughly one in four. United Way expanded this percentage by calculating what the charitable organization called the “Real Cost Budget,” which includes not only rent but also costs for child care, medical, health and transportation.

By United Way’s calculation, roughly one in three Californians can barely make ends meet, despite the state’s relatively generous transfer payments, subsidies and general assistance. Latinos and African Americans, as one might expect, fare worse, but roughly one-in-five non-Hispanic whites and 28 percent of Asians also are deemed struggling.

Roughly half of Latino households fall into this condition of poverty or near-poverty, as do a similar share of African American households. Those who do worst generally are poorly educated single mothers and their children. Poverty and near-poverty are greatest among Latinos, who also are bearing the majority of children. It is hard to imagine a more urgent wake-up call.

Not surprisingly, many of the foreign-born, the source of much of California’s population growth in recent decades, have fared poorly. Only 25 percent of households headed by native-born Californians fall below the United Way “Real Cost Budget” line for economic distress, but it’s 45 percent for those headed by the foreign-born, and nearly 60 percent for families headed by a noncitizen. The highest percentage is among Latino households headed by a noncitizen – a staggering 80 percent fall below the minimal level.


http://www.ocregister.com/articles/percent-676592-california-state.html

Of course it is, we have most of the population of Mexico living in our borders and not only do we encourage them to move here and live here tax free while getting out benefits, many schools make it mandatory that students, even if they were born in America, know how to speak Spanish. What other country in the world allows large groups of immigrants in, to live off their system for free and doesn’t even require them to learn the native language? On top of that, when someone calls them out on doing this, they are racist and a horrible person?

Honestly, I do not blame the Mexican people for taking advantage of the American system. I have two young children and understand how hard it is to support them. If I could find a nice country with a lot of jobs that would let me come in for free, pay me better than my own country, offer me a nice place to live, free food, and free money on welfare and I do not have to become a citizen or even learn much of the language, I would move there! I think most people would. So my issue is not necessarily with the Mexican people coming here and I am surprised others from different countries aren’t trying to do the same thing.

My issue is more with the government who allows this to happen. It is wasting so much money and with our economy going lower each year (I do not believe the numbers are going up, just that more people are giving up and choosing to use the system to get ahead), and we are taking the resources we have and giving them to people from another country. We could use that money to help support our own people rather than the people of a completely different country. We could give these jobs to Americans rather than letting them sit on their butts and not do anything. Of course, some Americans are as lazy as can be and will not want to go back to work at all, but a lot of them would take any job that they could get in order to get a bit ahead.

But when these jobs are going to those from another country, who are not even paying taxes on this money they earn and getting all of the benefits even though they are not legal citizens of this country (something I am still really confused on considering the requirements to get these benefits), it is impossible to get ahead in this world. I think a lot of us are going to start looking for a country somewhere else that is willing to give us the same benefits that the Mexicans can get here. I would be there in a heartbeat as would many others and say so long to this poor country that is just trying to pay off the Mexicans in order to get more votes and to see how much more they can sink this country in a little bit of time.

Census: Record 42.1 million immigrants in U.S., Mexicans drive latest surge




A new analysis of legal and illegal immigrant counts by the Census Bureau revealed Thursday that there is a record 42.1 million in the United States, an explosion that is being driven by Mexicans flooding across the border.

In a report provided to Secrets by the Center for Immigration Studies, the total immigrant population surged 1.7 million since 2014. The growth was led in the last year by an additional 740,000 Mexican immigrants.

The 42.1 million tabulated by Census in the second quarter represent over 13 percent of the U.S. population, the biggest percentage in 105 years.

What's more, the numbers of immigrants coming and going from the U.S. is actually higher since many return home every years, said the report. "For the immigrant population to increase by one million means that significantly more than one million new immigrants must enter the country because some immigrants already here return to their homeland each year and natural mortality totals 250,000 annually," said the Center.

The stunning growth is sure to pour fuel on the already white-hot immigration debate in Congress and on the presidential campaign trail.

"Illegal immigration came up in the presidential debates, but there has been little discussion of the level of immigration; this at a time when total immigration is surging according to the latest data," said Steven Camarota, co-author of the report and the Center for Immigration's director of research.

"The rapid growth in the immigrant population was foreseeable given the cutbacks in enforcement, our expansive legal immigration system, and the improvement in the economy. But the question remains, is it in the nation's interest?" he added.


http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/caramba-record-42.1-million-immigrants-in-u.s.-mexicans-drive-latest-surge/article/2570114

One-Fifth of El Salvador, Estimated One-Quarter of Mexico Now Living Inside USA







http://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/salvadoran-immigrants-united-states#2

Unfortunately, this is not a failure in the system of the United States. Rather, it is a failure in the people of the United States in controlling the few who control the U.S. government. It is the success of the few wealthy who control the government in their ever-expanding attempts to bring ALL of the freedom of U.S. Americans down.

We, English-speaking Americans, should learn Spanish.

The Spanish language, because it is different than English, exemplifies a different way of thinking about life. Understand that if you delve deeply into leaning Spanish, your outlook on life will change a little, just as the Spanish language is that of a different culture and society.

There is nothing wrong with this. But if you want to keep your cultural heritage when you learn Spanish, you need to keep an eye on the way it is changing some of your basic concepts of living.

Overall, it is a good idea to learn basic Spanish.

Report: 2.5 million illegal immigrants under Obama, 400,000 yearly


Some 2.5 million illegal immigrants have flowed into the United States under President Obama, with 790,000 rushing in since 2013, according to a new analysis.

Calculations from the Center for Migration Studies and the Pew Research Center indicate 1.5 to 1.7 million aliens joined the illegal population from 2009 to 2013 — either overstaying a temporary visa or sneaking into the country, according to a Center for Immigration Studies report out Monday morning.

The immigration watchdog's analysis of Census Bureau data also showed that an additional 790,000 illegals entered from the middle of 2013 to May of 2015, for a total of 2.5 million new illegal immigrants since Obama took office in January of 2009. That is a rate of 300,000 to 400,000 a year.

The issue has become explosive under Obama, especially in the last year when tens of thousands of children and young adults joined the regular flow of illegals from Latin America.

It has also embroiled the GOP presidential contest, with Donald Trump blasting Mexico and party leaders worrying about image of Republicans.

But the CIS report written by Steven A. Camarota, director of research, found that illegal immigration was higher under former President George W. Bush, potentially undermining the GOP's bid to sound tough on the issue. Under Bush, 500,000-600,000 illegals surged in a year.

Also, the report found that the overall population of illegals has remained "roughly constant," indicating that the surge in of immigrants is balanced by those going home or getting legal status.

Other points in the CIS report released Monday:

— Had the United States not allowed so many new illegal immigrants to settle in the country since 2009, the total number of illegal immigrants would have fallen by 2.5 million. But the arrival of so many new illegal immigrants offset this attrition in the illegal population.

— While the level of new illegal immigration is lower than a decade ago, the enormous ongoing scale of illegal immigration is a clear indication that the United States has not come close to controlling it.

— Prior research indicates that roughly half a million illegal immigrants return home on their own each year, are deported, die, or get permanent residence. Those who get legal status each year are not beneficiaries of the president's administrative amnesty known as DACA — which does not give permanent residence, but does provide Social Security numbers, work authorization, and identity documents. Rather it has been long-standing policy to allow those who violate immigration laws to still get green cards (permanent residency) if they qualify in one of the legal immigration categories such as marrying a U.S. citizen.


http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/report-2.5m-illegal-immigrants-under-obama-400k-yearly/article/2568566

And how they can seek a job since they aren't living in their native country. Just go back to their country then



Well I'm sorry if our english is not perfect for you, but you should know how differ lazy people with other people who try to communicate with foreign. Atleast, we have tried to learn English, and never do force you to learn our language like the lazy people who you are thinking.

That's a large number,  not surprising though,   the world flocks to America,  why shouldn't their neighbours.

What's strange in that? People are lazy in general. Some posters on this mainly English forum don't know the language but still try to communicate.

It just shows the complete failure of the system in the United States. Rather than assimilating the migrants by teaching them English, the Americans have made it mandatory (at least in a few places) for the natives to learn Spanish. Right now, the migrants don't learn English, becasue they feel no need to do so.

Well I think it sounds weird to me. They came to US, but their kids can't using English, then they want the school change the rules about language. Yeah I hope you should learn Spanish then wilikon



Some people think arabic is nice, but the others feel like in the desert when they are hearing it, no offense dude, its just my friends opinion. But there are many Arabian immigrants in US, and they surely use their language when talking to each other.

Why Spanish people not think arabic language?

why people not think arabic language ?
i think arabic language is so unique and beatifull to learn it

but very hard to learn arabic like nahwu and shorof

Nearly Half of NYC Public School Students Speak Non-English Languages at Home



“Nearly half of New York City public school students speak a language other than English at home, and more than 180 languages are represented,” stated a June 16 report released by the New York Immigration Coalition’s Education Collaborative, an immigrant advocacy group.

According to the New York City School District website, there are over 1.1 million students in the system, which means that “nearly half” of that figure would be over half a million students.

An article on the report in the New York Daily News for June 29 noted that the large number of non-English speakers in the city school system presents major challenges for the city’s Department of Education, which must, according to federal law and city statutes, provide translation and interpretation services for the parents of children whose first language is not English.


An earlier Daily News article on June 17 cited a New York Immigration Coalition (NYIC) survey released the previous day stating that only four out of 175 parents polled said it is easy to communicate with their children’s school. Half of parents surveyed said they didn’t understand what was going on during school meetings because there were no interpreters and 51 percent said important school notifications sent home with their children were not translated into a language they could understand.

The NYIC’s report, “The Great Parent Engagement Gap: Report on School Translation and Interpretation for NYC Parents,” stated:

In New York City, translation and interpretation services should at least be available in the top 9 languages spoken — Arabic, Bengali, Chinese, French, Haitian Creole, Korean, Russian, Spanish and Urdu — according to the Department of Education’s (DOE) own regulations.

And most people think that schools only need to provide educational materials in Spanish, as well as English!

Steven Choi, executive director of the New York Immigration Coalition, voiced his dissatisfaction with the school system’s current track record:

Currently, the DOE has only two people who are responsible for monitoring and supporting more than 1700 schools on translation and interpretation. This is unacceptable given almost half a million students speak a language other than English at home. We know that [New York City Schools] Chancellor [Carmen] Fariña, who has a strong commitment to parent engagement, will be just as concerned about our report’s results as we are. We look forward to working with the City to make schools more accessible institutions for immigrant parents and their children.

Among the changes that the NYIC wants implemented are providing a “Language Access Coordinator” in each of the 32 community superintendent’s and nine high-school superintendent’s offices, providing every school with a trained Language Access Coordinator at all times, and linking schools directly with over-the-phone interpreters.

The report did not even try to estimate the cost of providing all these additional services and personnel, but with the high salaries that prevail among city Department of Education employees, this obviously would amount to more than small change. (For example, starting teacher salaries range from $45,530 to $74,796 and with annual increases plus increases for additional coursework, teachers’ salaries can rise to the current maximum of $100,049 per year over time.)

The cost of providing these additional services to non-English speaking parents is, of course, in addition to providing bilingual education to students. In the jargon of educators, students who require bilingual education are designated as Limited English Proficient. While a fair number of such LEP students are the children of immigrants who are here legally, it is also certain that many are the children of illegal immigrants. Whether legal or illegal, however, the cost of educating them is substantial. A 2015 report from FAIR (The Federation for American Immigration Reform) indicated that in the D.C. metro area (which has a population of about six million, compared with New York City’s population of eight million) the cost of educating children who are limited English proficient runs to $2.4 billion.


http://www.thenewamerican.com/usnews/immigration/item/21161-nearly-half-of-nyc-public-school-students-speak-non-english-languages-at-home

I agree with you.
I remember from the historical lectures at school that in some parts of America (Louisiana, New Orleans) French was dominant in the distant past, as well as German and Italian in some other parts of the USA.
Of course, since the United States has long been a British colony English is rapidly accepted as the first official language, and so it has remained to this day.
Immigrants have helped the development of America a lot but for themselves and better orientation in a new country, they should learn English and not vice versa.
Americans should learn new languages because of trading and business with the world,(Chinese and Russian for example), not because of communication with immigrants in their own country.
It's great to keep tradition and culture of your native country but if you move to other country, accept the customs and culture of the new country, including language.

Every immigrants will bring their own native language to talk to each other, but it doesn't mean the native US people should learn their language. The number of spanish speakers is be bigger because of their population growth, not because schools has taught it in US.

Thanks to the RINOs and the Democrats. And the Birthright citizenship laws, which are applicable to the United States is one of the most idiotic laws I have ever heard of. This has not only enabled the Mexican illegals to remain in the US, but it has also encouraged them to produce half a dozen anchor babies each, thereby claiming the government benefits.

Mexico is conquering USA silently. 

Wow.. It is not just the absolute number; even the proportion of Spanish speakers to the US population is high. Out of a total population of ~320 Mn , Spanish speakers are 41 Mn which is 13%. That is a sizable number by any standards.

Anyone who's ever been to East L.A. or in Florida is well aware of this. Spanish speakers are everywhere. You see Spanish billboards, you hear Spanish on the radio, and all the people around have black hair. Everything's much different from what you can experience in Spain though, America remains America.

Speaking Spanish is as easy as spelling SOCKS! S-O-C-K-S...

This news doesn't surprise me, the U.S. is a big place.

Spanish is useful only for blue collar jobs, such as those in Wal-Mart and McDonald's. For people who are in to white collar jobs, it will be much more beneficial to learn other foreign languages such as German, Italian and French. That said, the most promising languages are Japanese and Korean (+ Mandarin Chinese and Cantonese Chinese, to some extent), but it will take ages to acquire the necessary proficiency in these languages.

Learning a foreign language, like Spanish, is becoming much more of a necessity in today's society. More than 400 million people speak Spanish worldwide out of which 33 million people speak in America.
These are some benefit of learning Spanish. Knowing Spanish language enhances your resume -- Employers love applicants that have fluency (or even moderate fluency) in a foreign language.
Spanish is not only fun, but it enriches your experiences, whether at work or while traveling.

The Latino birth rate has been declining for the past 5-6 years. Also, the illegal immigration from Latin America (especially that from Mexico) is slowing down. This means that the number of the Spanish speakers will go down in the near future, as the new arrivals will be unable to stem the losses resulting from language shift to English.

Yo quiero arroz, pollo , frijoles y maduros por favor...

Y usted, todavia habla Ingles?  Que is su problema?

The United States is now the world’s second largest Spanish-speaking country after Mexico, according to a new study published by the prestigious Instituto Cervantes.

The report says there are 41 million native Spanish speakers in the US plus a further 11.6 million who are bilingual, mainly the children of Spanish-speaking immigrants. This puts the US ahead of Colombia (48 million) and Spain (46 million) and second only to Mexico (121 million).

Among the sources cited in the report is the US Census Office which estimates that the US will have 138 million Spanish speakers by 2050, making it the biggest Spanish-speaking nation on Earth, with Spanish the mother tongue of almost a third of its citizens.

By state the highest concentration is in the former Spanish colonies of the south and south-west, with New Mexico top at 47%, followed by California and Texas (both 38%) and Arizona (30%). Some 18% of New Yorkers speak Spanish while only 1.3% of West Virginians do. Perhaps surprisingly, more than 6% of Alaskans are Spanish speakers.


http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/jun/29/us-second-biggest-spanish-speaking-country