Immigration and language in the United States is a hot button topic. Some people believe that today’s immigrants are not learning English as quickly as those from earlier waves of immigration did. But research shows this to be a misconception.
According to a study by the Pew Research Center, 92% of second-generation Latino immigrants asked said they spoke English “very well.” And it’s not only the children of immigrants who are learning English; according to data collected in 2012 by the U.S. Census, 44% of foreign-born people aged five and older reported speaking English either exclusively or very well.
On the other hand, reports on immigrant communities of the past paint a different picture. One study of 1910 census data from German immigrant communities in Wisconsin found that high numbers of second and even third generation immigrants reported being monolingual German speakers. In Schleswig Township, Wisconsin, for example, 22% of residents reported speaking German only, and over one-third of those people were born in the United States. Compare this with the only 8% of second generation Latinos who describe themselves as stronger in Spanish than English in the recent census.
So why are today’s immigrants adopting the majority language of the U.S. so readily?There are a lot of possible explanations, but one likely contributor is the value placed on learning English in these communities. English is seen by virtually all immigrants as a key to success for both immigrants and their children, according to the same Pew study.
Another difference between today’s immigrants and those of yesteryear is of course access to mass media, which is predominantly in English in the United States. In the Pew study, 45% of Latinos reported watching TV mostly in English. Whatever the reason, the notion that the English language is in danger due to recent waves of immigration is a myth.