2023-09-21 09:04:41
“One of the most important findings in this study was establishing that more than half of Hispanics who do not speak Spanish have been shamed for this fact by someone from their own community,” Mark Hugo López, director of ethnic research at EFE, explained to EFE. Pew and co-author of the report.
The survey conducted by the research center found that six in ten Hispanics with a college education say they have been teased for this reason, while 47% of Latinos with less education report the same problem.
57% of Hispanics ages 18 to 49 who do not speak Spanish say they have been criticized for this reason, compared to 44% of those over 50.
Four in ten Latinos indicate that they have heard other Hispanics making jokes often, or very often, about Latinos who do not speak Spanish well, including criticism of expressions such as “I don’t know,” used by some Hispanics born in the United States. United, López explained.
The researcher cited the controversy caused by an ESPN reporter’s interview with a minor who was celebrating a victory for the Mexican soccer team in Los Angeles (California) last July. The young fan did not understand the questions in Spanish, something that was criticized by the commentators in the studio. “It is a generation that no longer speaks Spanish,” said one of them.
«There were a lot of negative comments (on social media) saying that this is an example of how Hispanics are losing their culture, but there were also many Hispanics who said: “The same thing happens to me (I don’t speak Spanish), but I belong to that culture.” That defense is important,” López emphasized.
The report points out that “the identity of the Latino in the United States can be shaped by many factors, and one of them is speaking Spanish, something that some Latinos use to distinguish who is and who is not Hispanic.”
“Still, 78% of Latino adults indicate that it is not necessary to speak Spanish to be considered Latino,” he adds.
All in all, 85% of Latinos believe that it is important for future generations in the US to speak the language, an opinion shared more by immigrants than by Latinos born in this country.
70% of Hispanics of Central American origin believe that it is very important, or extremely important, for future generations to speak Spanish, a perception shared by 64% of Mexicans, 63% of Cubans, 65% of South Americans and 59% of Puerto Ricans.
Spanish is the second most used language in the United States and 75% of all Hispanic adults indicate that they can conduct a conversation in this language in which they understand what is said and speak without difficulty. This ability is displayed by 93% of foreign-born Latinos and 57% of U.S.-born Latinos.
López highlights that 74% of Latinos speak Spanish at home, compared to 78% in 2000.
The study found that 63% of Latinos in the US sometimes or very often resort to using the espanglishthat is, the modality of speech in which lexical and grammatical elements of Spanish and English are mixed.
For this report, Pew surveyed a nationally representative sample of 7,647 adults, including 3,029 Latinos, in English and Spanish between August 1 and 14, 2022.
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