Generations of Hispanic Immigrant Families Are Learning English, Says Pew Research Center

Here's something you won't hear mentioned in Metro Council's English Only deliberations. A Pew Center research study found:

Spanish is the dominant language of the Hispanic adult population because of the presence of immigrants. Even so, more than a quarter of the foreign-born population speaks some English. The language profile is very different among native-born Latinos. Nearly half of the second generation only speaks English and the other half is almost all bilingual, meaning they can speak and read both languages. Virtually all Latinos whose parents were born in the United States speak English and none are Spanish dominant.

Here are Pew's crunched numbers:

	Spanish Dominant	Bilingual	English Dominant
1st Generation	72%	24%	4%
2nd Generation	7%	47%	46%
3rd Generation	0%	22%	78%

That 0% Spanish dominant fluency by the 3rd generation is titanic and impressive. If government services in Spanish were the crutch that Council Member and new Fox Noise darling Eric Crafton claims, then Spanish dominance would stretch out for generations. It does not and the theory of immigrant crutches is bunk. English dominance starts to take over in the 2nd generation, and the 3rd generation of immigrant families truly are "English First" without their big brother in government pushing them into the deep end with no water wings.

HT: Gregg Ramos