Enough Already.

José Cancela is at it again, arguing that Spanish will defy the forces of linguistic assimilation and maintain its relevance for generations of U.S. born Hispanics.

Taking his cue from the recently released American Community Survey by the Census Bureau, he notes that the number of Spanish speakers in the U.S. is now 33 million, up from 28 million in 2000. Latinos, he claims, are “breaking the mold, clinging to their Spanish-language roots,” while he resurrects the tired argument that “English connects with our brains, but Spanish connects with our hearts.”

Enough already! I get that there are millions more Spanish speakers in this country than ever before. I agree that many second generation Hispanics are hooked on telenovelas and that Spanish language networks have had “double-digit growth in the key 18- to 34-year-old demographic.” I do not need to be reminded again that José Cancela “makes love in Español.”

But let’s not fool ourselves into thinking that Spanish is the preferred language for anyone but immigrants from Latin America or the Iberian Peninsula.

Here’s what the research says:

” The Pew Hispanic Center’s 2002 survey found that 78% of third generation Hispanic adults were English dominant, the remaining 22% being bilingual. Of all U.S. born Latinos, 61% were English dominant, 35% bilingual and 4% Spanish dominant.

” A study published in 2005 by the University of Albany’s Mumford Center concluded that although Hispanics are retaining their Spanish longer than earlier European immigrant groups and today’s Asian immigrants, “English monolingualism is the predominate pattern by the third generation.” The study found that 72% of third generation Hispanic children spoke only English at home.

” In a longitudinal study of over 2,000 second generation teens in San Diego and Miami, sociologists Alejandro Portes and Rubén Rumbaut found that though most Hispanic respondents were bilingual, English was clearly their preferred language. When interviewed as high school freshman in 1992, about half the Mexicans and three-quarters of the non-Mexican Hispanics preferred to speak English. Four years later, as seniors, English had grown in dominance ? three-quarters of the Mexicans preferred English, while over 90% of the non-Mexicans preferred English.

” A 2005 study of 1,135 Latinos born in the United States conducted by my company, New American Dimensions, found that there was a clear preference for speaking English, watching English language television, and a desire to be marketed to in English. The study found that by the third generation, only 15% of Latinos indicated that they spoke Spanish “well” or “very well.” Among third generation respondents, 93% said they preferred English.

If the truth be told, nearly all research studies of U.S. born Hispanics point to a bilingual second generation that tends to prefer English and a monolingual third generation that, for all intents and purposes, speaks only English.

There is one notable exception. Peter Roslow published three studies, two with Hispanic adults in 1994 and 2000, and one with Hispanic teens in 2000, claiming the effectiveness of Spanish language ads relative to those in English. Conducted for Univision (Hispanic Market Weekly, 2000), the studies are constantly touted by those in the nothing-but-Spanish camp as proof that Spanish works best. I’ll buy the argument for Hispanic adults, about six in ten of whom were born outside the United States. But not for teens. Nevertheless, both studies have cracks as deep as the one in the Liberty Bell.

Roslow’s sample eliminated Hispanics that spoke only English, yet retained those that spoke only Spanish. He over-represented immigrants, particularly with teens (immigrants make up 43% of his teen sample, though they make up only half that amount in the actual Hispanic teen population). His most egregious flaw was that many of the Spanish language ads he tested were designed for Hispanics, while the English ads were not. To quote from his 2000 teen report: “In some cases the Spanish creative approach was totally different from the English counterpart …in terms of creative execution and message.” And yet scores of marketers continue to quote Roslow’s conclusion that “advertising to Hispanic teens in Spanish was found to be significantly more effective than advertising to them in English.”

Cancela compares U.S. born Hispanics to the descendents of Italian and Jewish-American immigrants. I can relate. When I hear Yiddish, it warms me up inside. It reminds me of my grandmother. When the English didn’t seem to do a situation justice, she would start a sentence with “As my mother used to say,” launch into a sentence that sounded something like Ich zol azoy vissen fun tsores, and then give the translation. Hearing Yiddish takes me back to those days. But I can’t speak it to save my life.

The difference is that my great-grandparents, like most European Jews, immigrated over a century ago. Today, 75% of Hispanics are either first or second generation. Spanish in the United States is dynamic, constantly getting replenished by new immigrants. But as has been the case with other immigrant groups, the U.S. will likely remain what sociologists call the “graveyard of languages.” Spanish, like Yiddish or Italian, will retain its symbolic importance for generations of Hispanics yet to be born. And it is through symbols that we make an emotional connection. But to connect, to really communicate with a U.S. born Hispanic, do it in English. Or Spanglish. But that’s a whole other issue.

By David R. Morse
President and CEO
New American Dimensions, LLC