The 37,579,787 Spanish-speakers present in 2011 increased by 210 percent since 1980, and those numbers have continued to climb due to the influx of immigrants from Latin countries and in-nation Latino births. That said, as the U.S. Latino population grows, second and third generations of Latinos speak Spanish less and less ...but, some younger Latinos intend to change that.
The national unemployment rate declined in August, but Speaker of the House John Boehner, R-OH, expressed disappointment with the figures released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
While the use of Spanish has grown and been incorporated into many aspects of life in the U.S., researchers project that the number of Hispanics speaking Spanish will drop from three-fourths to about two-thirds by 2020.
Nearly one-third of Texans who are 5 years and older speak Spanish at home, according to the 2000 census. And, for children younger than five years old, the percentage is much higher. Naturally, conversational habits used in the home, such as speaking Spanish, continue when in school. Nonetheless, some educators don’t like students speaking Spanish in the classroom for an invariable number of reasons. In fact, one middle school principal, Amy Lacey, in Hempstead, Texas, went as far as to tell students that they could not use Spanish in the classroom; which directly led to the principal being suspended with pay.
Check the job listings on Craigslist, Idealist, Monster.com and Linkedin, and you will find postings that indicate: "Spanish Speaker Needed," "Spanish Fluency Preferred" or "Native speaker of fully fluent in Spanish requested." There's no doubt that the language is in great demand; however, the people who natively speak it, simply are not.
The language barriers that Spanish-speaking Latino immigrants face whenever they enter a school hospital or courtroom, particularly in the South, is concerning. Very often, there are no interpreters present to answer questions or to respond when these individuals need to communicate with a teacher, a doctor or a judge, leaving them vulnerable and at the mercy of those individuals with whom they need to communicate. Nonetheless, things may be changing in one small city in Chatham County, Georgia.
