Latinos In US Increasingly Adopt English Over Spanish As Use of Mother Tongue Declines

Bloomberg Línea — The adoption of the English language by Latinos in the United States is steadily growing, and is especially driven by the younger generations. Seven out of 10 Latinos over the age of five speak English fluently, but the same proportion no longer speak Spanish at home, according to a study conducted by Pew Research Center.

The study reveals that, in 2021, 72% of Latinos over the age of five spoke English fluently, compared to 59% in 2000. US-born Latinos are driving this growth, as their share in this measure has grown from 81% to 91% during the same timespan.

On the other hand, the rate of fluent English speakers among Latino immigrants is lower, at 37%. But, if we take the total Latino population, 41.7 million are fluent in the language.

The adoption of the English language by Latinos has been counterbalanced by a decline in the use of Spanish.

According to Pew Research Center, the proportion of Latinos who speak their native language at home declined from 78% in 2000 to 68% in 2021.

Among the US-born, the proportion speaking Spanish at home is even lower, dropping from 66% to 55% in the period studied.

“Nearly all Latino immigrants (93% in 2021) say they speak Spanish at home. Although that proportion has declined, the number of those who do increased from 24.6 million in 2000 to 39.3 million in 2021,″ according to the study.

The departments of human development and family sciences at the universities of Oklahoma and Iowa call this type of loss among second- and third-generation immigrants of their mother tongue “shared language erosion”, a process in which adolescents improve their English language skills and, at the same time, lose or fail to develop their heritage language. At the same time, their parents acquire English at a much slower rate, according to the Los Angeles Times.

This phenomenon can result in the loss of a person’s sense of connection to his or her culture and people, including family.