Future of Spanish in the United States
Generally, US Hispanics (13.4% of the population in 2002) are bilingual to some degree. A study by Simmons Market Research found that 19% of the Hispanic population speak only Spanish while 9% speak only English, 55% have limited English proficiency and 17% are fully English-Spanish bilingual.
Intergenerational transmission of Spanish is a better indicator of the future of Spanish in the United States than crude numbers of native Spanish-speaking immigrants in a given moment of time. Although Latin American immigrants have various levels of English proficiency, Hispanics who are second-generation American in the United States almost all speak English, but about 50 percent speak Spanish at home. Two-thirds of third-generation Mexican Americans speak English exclusively at home.
There are more Spanish speakers in the United States than there are speakers of French (another language inherited from European colonization), Hawaiian, and the various Native American languages taken all together. Living an exclusively Spanish-speaking life is viable in some areas due to the constant influx of immigrants and the prevalence of Spanish-language mass media, such as Univisión, Telemundo USA, and Azteca America. Also, because of the North American Free Trade Agreement, it is now common for many American manufacturers to use trilingual product labeling in which the same text is repeated in English, French, and Spanish. Apart from the businesses that have always catered to Spanish-speaking immigrants, a small but rapidly increasing number of mainstream American retailers are beginning to provide dual-language advertising and in-store signage in both English and Spanish.
Spanish is the most widely taught non-English language in U.S. secondary schools and institutions of higher education ([3]), indicating its importance among non-Hispanic Americans.
Perhaps these factors can guarantee the survival of the Spanish in the United States, but it is necessary to remember that historically the original languages of immigrants tend to disappear or become greatly reduced through assimilation and generational change. The Spanish language has disappeared in several countries and territories during the 20th century, notably in the Pacific Island nations of Guam, Micronesia, Palau, Northern Marianas, and Marshall Islands. In the Philippines, it has now virtually died out (2,658 speakers, 1990 Census). In addition, the English-Only movement seeks to establish English as the only official language of the United States.
However, there are many factors which indicate that the status of Spanish is in a healthy state. The State of the Union Addresses and other U.S. Presidential speeches have been translated into Spanish following the precedent set by the Clinton Administration. Official Spanish translations are available at Whitehouse.gov. In addition to this, some non-Hispanic politicians who are fluent in the Spanish language have often delivered speeches in Spanish to Hispanic majority constituencies.
