"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
