A Meta-Study of The Market
December 2002, HISPANIC BUSINESS Magazine
According to its formal definition, a meta-study is a synthesis of earlier research.
On the subject of language usage among U.S. Hispanic consumers, Hispanic Business has reviewed dozens of academic journals, general trade and professional books, media sources, and market studies in an effort to track the trends of the market. These pages present the results of that research, pointing to a future in which the Hispanic market conducts a significant portion of its business and personal communication in English.
Voice your opinion -- take the Hispanic Business Language Report Survey.
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COMMUNITY VOICES: LANGUAGE AT HOME
"The language used at home is perhaps the most important factor related to Spanish-language maintenance in the Southwest. Other factors related to speaker circumstances, such as childhood residence and degree of formal education, may be found to be related to patterns of language maintenance as indirect measures of degree of assimilation to the dominant monolingual culture."
--Mary Beth Floyd, Oakland (California) School District
Spanish in the Southwest: Language Maintenance or Shift?1
"The Puerto Rican community has maintained its bilingual character over the span of generations – that is, bilingualism is stable and Spanish is maintained, although there is a shift from Spanish-preference to English-preference in the pattern of bilingual behavior."
--Pedro Pedraza
Language Maintenance Among New York Puerto Ricans3
"While the shift [to English] may be progressing at a faster pace in the large urban areas such as Austin and Los Angeles, the literature suggests that even in more remote areas like Arroyo Seco, New Mexico, language shift is in evidence."
--Mary Beth Floyd, Oakland (California) School District
Spanish in the Southwest: Language Maintenance or Shift?1
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COMMUNITY VOICES: ASSIMILATION
"It seems that since parents are less bilingual than their children, they claim to make a conscious effort to use Spanish when they identify Hispanics in their community, whereas the children tend to follow more closely the English-only rule in public interaction."
--Margarita Hidalgo, San Diego State University
The Dialectics of Spanish-Language Loyalty and Maintenance on the U.S.-Mexico Border4
"Immersion in the large American culture results in two adaptation processes. The first is assimilation of the large dominant American culture. The second one, which is less understood, is the exposure to many other Latin American national cultures, a process that may be referred to the Latinization or cross-fertilization of Latin American cultures. … [I]t is only in the United States that a true melting pot of diverse Latin American cultures takes place.
"A related process that also influences the Latin core identity is the reverse process of Latinization of the larger American culture. As Americans look for more diversity and new experiences … they may embrace Latin expressions or gestures and explore Latin products. This processs of Latinization of the large U.S. market is of great interest to U.S. firms targeting this ethnic segment. The potential crossover of Latin products and culture to the general market is five to ten times more attractive than just targeting the Latin market alone."
--Fernando Robles, Francoise Simon, and Jerry Haar
Winning Strategies for the New Latin Markets
"The existing investigations of Spanish-language maintenance among Chicano speakers in the Southwest offer evidence of a process of language shift from Spanish to the dominant societal language, English. The existing literature shows a relationship between such a shift and the factors of the speakers’ age and generation, with younger [respondents] and successive generations of speakers within the same families showing decreasing maintenance of Spanish."
--Mary Beth Floyd, Oakland (California) School District
Spanish in the Southwest: Language Maintenance or Shift?1
"What is undoubtedly the most highly debated and manipulated issue is the level of acculturation and language use of Hispanics. This has been a constant source of debate and contention given that, since its origins, the dominant view in the Hispanic marketing industry is that Hispanics speak Spanish and thus Hispanics respond, understand, and connect more efficiently to messages that are transmitted in 'their language.' … The irony that remains unstated is that such language purity is an unattainable goal in the world of advertising, where U.S. products are being advertised and where product names – all in English – necessarily fill the airwaves with English names and Spanglish phrases.
--Arlene Davila
Latinos Inc.: The Marketing and Making of a People
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COMMUNITY VOICES: MEDIA USAGE
"Hispanic Internet users seem to prefer English-language sites."
--Cheskin Research
The Digital World of the U.S. Hispanic
"The existence of substantial media support for Spanish in New York … provides ample economic and prestige motivation for oral and literate maintenance. … [This factor] may, in the long run, only delay rather than prevent the demise of Spanish in the Puerto Rican community."
--Pedro Pedraza
Language Maintenance Among New York Puerto Ricans3
"Spanish-language online retailer Español.com has found that few Hispanic Internet shoppers in the United States care whether their shopping destinations are in English or Spanish. The study of 2,000 Internet-ready U.S. Hispanics, commissioned by Espańol.com and conducted by Research & Research Inc., found that 51 percent of respondents are either indifferent to language issues on the Web or are at least comfortable in a bilingual environment. More than 40 percent of survey respondents said that they prefer English sites, as compared to the 8 percent who want Spanish sites."
--Mary Hillebrand
"U.S. Hispanic E-Shoppers Indifferent to Language"
E-Commerce Times
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COMMUNITY VOICES: TELEVISION USAGE
"The portrait of the foreign-born and Spanish-dominant Hispanic who watches only Univision or Telemundo has not gone unchallenged. … Specifically, the dominance of Spanish as the defining element of the market has been challenged by radio and print, cheaper and more adaptable media. … In doing so, [these media] are creating different 'knowledges' of the identity, needs, and desires of the Hispanic consumer."
--Arlene Davila
Latinos Inc.: The Marketing and Making of a People
"Only two percent [of Hispanic junior high school students in Miami] report watching Spanish TV exclusively and less than 10 percent more than half the time. We may conclude, then, that the very strong Spanish media in Miami are serving mostly an older generation. … Despite the apparent vitality of the language in the community, we see signs of Spanish being replaced by English to a significant degree."
--Barbara Zurer Pearson and Arlene McGee
Language Choice in Hispanic-Background Junior High School Students in Miami: A 1998 Update7
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COMMUNITY VOICES: EDUCATION & INCOME
"The earnings differential between Hispanics and the total population of the United States disappeared when differences in Hispanic literacy levels [in English] were taken into account."
--National Center for Education Statistics
English Literacy and Language Minorities in the United States, 2001
"According to Simmons Hispanic surveys, bilingual/bicultural Latinos represent by far the majority share of consumer expenditures – approximately $314 billion – compared to expenditures of Spanish-dominant consumers ($85.4 billion) and highly acculturated Latinos who speak only English ($43 billion). Within the next 10 years, projects Simmons, this bilingual/bicultural fusion market will double to over $672 billion in consumer expenditures."
--La Jolla Institute
The Hispanic Fusion Market: Bilingual Youth, 2002
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Endnotes
1. Study based on data from these sources: R.I. Skrabanek’s examination of 544 Mexican-American households in South Texas; Roger Thompson’s survey of 136 male heads of household in Austin; Luis Laosa’s survey of 295 children and their parents in Austin, Miami, and New York; David Lopez’s survey of 890 married women in Los Angeles; Leroy Ortiz’s survey of 48 children and their parents in Arroyo Seco, New Mexico; and Alan Hudson-Edwards’ study of 55 households in Albuquerque.
2. Study based on 454 telephone and in-person interviews with randomly selected adults in San Diego County, California.
3. Study based on ethnographic observations and interviews in the East Harlem neighborhood of New York City.
4. Study based on interviews with 136 students at Castle Park High School in Chula Vista, California.
5. Study based on 250 telephone interviews of Hispanics ages 14 to 24 years, plus 25 qualitative interviews with Hispanics ages 16 to 24 years, all in Los Angeles.
6. Study based on telephone interviews with 1,000 Hispanics nationally in August 2002.
7. Study based on interviews with 110 junior high students in Miami.
Bibliography: Sources on Language Usage Among U.S. Hispanics
On the subject of language usage among U.S. Hispanic consumers, Hispanic Business has reviewed dozens of academic journals, general trade and professional books, media sources, and market studies in an effort to track the trends of the market. These pages present the results of that research, pointing to a future in which the Hispanic market conducts a significant portion of its business and personal communication in English.
Voice your opinion -- take the Hispanic Business Language Report Survey.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
COMMUNITY VOICES: LANGUAGE AT HOME
"The language used at home is perhaps the most important factor related to Spanish-language maintenance in the Southwest. Other factors related to speaker circumstances, such as childhood residence and degree of formal education, may be found to be related to patterns of language maintenance as indirect measures of degree of assimilation to the dominant monolingual culture."
--Mary Beth Floyd, Oakland (California) School District
Spanish in the Southwest: Language Maintenance or Shift?1
| "How comfortable do you feel speaking English?" | |
| Very comfortable | 45% |
| Somewhat comfortable | 19% |
| Somewhat uncomfortable | 14% |
| Very uncomfortable | 22% |
| Meneses Research & Associates, "Ask San Diego" survey of Hispanics2 | |
"The Puerto Rican community has maintained its bilingual character over the span of generations – that is, bilingualism is stable and Spanish is maintained, although there is a shift from Spanish-preference to English-preference in the pattern of bilingual behavior."
--Pedro Pedraza
Language Maintenance Among New York Puerto Ricans3
| Language Spoken at Home by U.S. Hispanics | |
| Speak English only | 21.4% |
| Speak Spanish; speak English "very well" | 37.6% |
| Speak Spanish; speak English "well" | 16.8% |
| Speak Spanish; speak English "not well" | 14.8% |
| Speak Spanish only | 8.8% |
| Speak another language | 0.5% |
| Source: 2000 Census, based on population of Hispanic or Latino origin, five years of age or older | |
"While the shift [to English] may be progressing at a faster pace in the large urban areas such as Austin and Los Angeles, the literature suggests that even in more remote areas like Arroyo Seco, New Mexico, language shift is in evidence."
--Mary Beth Floyd, Oakland (California) School District
Spanish in the Southwest: Language Maintenance or Shift?1
| "Do you speak English at home?" | |
| All the time | 26% |
| Most of the time | 18% |
| Some of the time | 23% |
| Rarely | 11% |
| Never | 22% |
| Meneses Research & Associates, "Ask San Diego" survey of Hispanics2 | |
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COMMUNITY VOICES: ASSIMILATION
"It seems that since parents are less bilingual than their children, they claim to make a conscious effort to use Spanish when they identify Hispanics in their community, whereas the children tend to follow more closely the English-only rule in public interaction."
--Margarita Hidalgo, San Diego State University
The Dialectics of Spanish-Language Loyalty and Maintenance on the U.S.-Mexico Border4
"Immersion in the large American culture results in two adaptation processes. The first is assimilation of the large dominant American culture. The second one, which is less understood, is the exposure to many other Latin American national cultures, a process that may be referred to the Latinization or cross-fertilization of Latin American cultures. … [I]t is only in the United States that a true melting pot of diverse Latin American cultures takes place.
"A related process that also influences the Latin core identity is the reverse process of Latinization of the larger American culture. As Americans look for more diversity and new experiences … they may embrace Latin expressions or gestures and explore Latin products. This processs of Latinization of the large U.S. market is of great interest to U.S. firms targeting this ethnic segment. The potential crossover of Latin products and culture to the general market is five to ten times more attractive than just targeting the Latin market alone."
--Fernando Robles, Francoise Simon, and Jerry Haar
Winning Strategies for the New Latin Markets
| Language Preference Among Hispanics Ages 14–24 | |
| English | 57% |
| Spanish | 28% |
| Either | 14% |
| Source: Cultural Access Group, A Tale of Two Cultures: L.A.’s Latino Youth5 | |
"The existing investigations of Spanish-language maintenance among Chicano speakers in the Southwest offer evidence of a process of language shift from Spanish to the dominant societal language, English. The existing literature shows a relationship between such a shift and the factors of the speakers’ age and generation, with younger [respondents] and successive generations of speakers within the same families showing decreasing maintenance of Spanish."
--Mary Beth Floyd, Oakland (California) School District
Spanish in the Southwest: Language Maintenance or Shift?1
| Purpose of Bilingual Education Programs | |
| "In your opinion, what ought to be the purpose of bilingual education programs in the public school system: To make sure that students learn English well, or to teach immigrant children in their native language so they don’t fall behind in other matters?" | |
| Learn English well | 68.2% |
| Teach in native language | 25.9% |
| Don’t know/refused | 5.8% |
| The Latino Coalition, 2002 National Hispanic Survey6 | |
"What is undoubtedly the most highly debated and manipulated issue is the level of acculturation and language use of Hispanics. This has been a constant source of debate and contention given that, since its origins, the dominant view in the Hispanic marketing industry is that Hispanics speak Spanish and thus Hispanics respond, understand, and connect more efficiently to messages that are transmitted in 'their language.' … The irony that remains unstated is that such language purity is an unattainable goal in the world of advertising, where U.S. products are being advertised and where product names – all in English – necessarily fill the airwaves with English names and Spanglish phrases.
--Arlene Davila
Latinos Inc.: The Marketing and Making of a People
| Barriers to Success | |
| "What do you consider to be the greatest barrier that keeps Latinos from succeeding in the United States?" (Open question) | |
| Language | 28.8% |
| Lack of education | 18.8% |
| Discrimination | 14.4% |
| Hispanics our/themselves | 6.3% |
| Immigration laws | 4.3% |
| The Latino Coalition, 2002 National Hispanic Survey6 | |
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COMMUNITY VOICES: MEDIA USAGE
"Hispanic Internet users seem to prefer English-language sites."
--Cheskin Research
The Digital World of the U.S. Hispanic
| Internet Language Preference | |
| "What is the predominant language of the Internet sites you normally visit?" | |
| English | 91% |
| Spanish | 6% |
| Both | 3% |
| Source: Cultural Access Group, A Tale of Two Cultures: L.A.’s Latino Youth5 | |
"The existence of substantial media support for Spanish in New York … provides ample economic and prestige motivation for oral and literate maintenance. … [This factor] may, in the long run, only delay rather than prevent the demise of Spanish in the Puerto Rican community."
--Pedro Pedraza
Language Maintenance Among New York Puerto Ricans3
| Media Usage, Hispanics Ages 14–24 | |
| Medium | Average Hours/Week |
| English TV | 17 |
| Spanish TV | 9 |
| English radio | 16 |
| Spanish radio | 9 |
| English print | 5 |
| Spanish print | 1 |
| Source: Cultural Access Group, A Tale of Two Cultures: L.A.’s Latino Youth5 | |
"Spanish-language online retailer Español.com has found that few Hispanic Internet shoppers in the United States care whether their shopping destinations are in English or Spanish. The study of 2,000 Internet-ready U.S. Hispanics, commissioned by Espańol.com and conducted by Research & Research Inc., found that 51 percent of respondents are either indifferent to language issues on the Web or are at least comfortable in a bilingual environment. More than 40 percent of survey respondents said that they prefer English sites, as compared to the 8 percent who want Spanish sites."
--Mary Hillebrand
"U.S. Hispanic E-Shoppers Indifferent to Language"
E-Commerce Times
| U.S. Hispanic Technographics, 2003* | ||
| U.S. Hispanics | Total U.S. market | |
| Internet users | 17.6 million | 197.1 million |
| Internet penetration | 49% | 70% |
| E-commerce spending | $8.1 billion | $726.0 billion |
| E-commerce per user | $2,683 | $3,682 |
| Internet ad expenditures | $1.0 billion | $17.2 billion |
| *Estimated Source: Fernando Robles, Francoise Simon, and Jerry Haar Winning Strategies for the New Latin Markets | ||
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COMMUNITY VOICES: TELEVISION USAGE
"The portrait of the foreign-born and Spanish-dominant Hispanic who watches only Univision or Telemundo has not gone unchallenged. … Specifically, the dominance of Spanish as the defining element of the market has been challenged by radio and print, cheaper and more adaptable media. … In doing so, [these media] are creating different 'knowledges' of the identity, needs, and desires of the Hispanic consumer."
--Arlene Davila
Latinos Inc.: The Marketing and Making of a People
"Only two percent [of Hispanic junior high school students in Miami] report watching Spanish TV exclusively and less than 10 percent more than half the time. We may conclude, then, that the very strong Spanish media in Miami are serving mostly an older generation. … Despite the apparent vitality of the language in the community, we see signs of Spanish being replaced by English to a significant degree."
--Barbara Zurer Pearson and Arlene McGee
Language Choice in Hispanic-Background Junior High School Students in Miami: A 1998 Update7
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
COMMUNITY VOICES: EDUCATION & INCOME
"The earnings differential between Hispanics and the total population of the United States disappeared when differences in Hispanic literacy levels [in English] were taken into account."
--National Center for Education Statistics
English Literacy and Language Minorities in the United States, 2001
"According to Simmons Hispanic surveys, bilingual/bicultural Latinos represent by far the majority share of consumer expenditures – approximately $314 billion – compared to expenditures of Spanish-dominant consumers ($85.4 billion) and highly acculturated Latinos who speak only English ($43 billion). Within the next 10 years, projects Simmons, this bilingual/bicultural fusion market will double to over $672 billion in consumer expenditures."
--La Jolla Institute
The Hispanic Fusion Market: Bilingual Youth, 2002
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Endnotes
1. Study based on data from these sources: R.I. Skrabanek’s examination of 544 Mexican-American households in South Texas; Roger Thompson’s survey of 136 male heads of household in Austin; Luis Laosa’s survey of 295 children and their parents in Austin, Miami, and New York; David Lopez’s survey of 890 married women in Los Angeles; Leroy Ortiz’s survey of 48 children and their parents in Arroyo Seco, New Mexico; and Alan Hudson-Edwards’ study of 55 households in Albuquerque.
2. Study based on 454 telephone and in-person interviews with randomly selected adults in San Diego County, California.
3. Study based on ethnographic observations and interviews in the East Harlem neighborhood of New York City.
4. Study based on interviews with 136 students at Castle Park High School in Chula Vista, California.
5. Study based on 250 telephone interviews of Hispanics ages 14 to 24 years, plus 25 qualitative interviews with Hispanics ages 16 to 24 years, all in Los Angeles.
6. Study based on telephone interviews with 1,000 Hispanics nationally in August 2002.
7. Study based on interviews with 110 junior high students in Miami.
Bibliography: Sources on Language Usage Among U.S. Hispanics
Source: HISPANIC BUSINESS Magazine