This week, my daily news surfing brought me to this article from NPR about the unclear future of the Spanish language in the U.S. The author, Luis Clemens, challenges the idea that the growing number of Latinos in America automatically means there will be more Spanish speakers going forward. Those of us in the middle of child rearing in more than one language are familiar with how much work and conscious planning it takes to achieve the end of producing not just bilingual, but also biliterate, members of the next generation. Thus, it makes perfect sense to me, and probably to many of you, that there is not necessarily a direct connection between ethnicity and language.

More importantly than pointing to this disconnect, Clemens questions what it means when a U.S.-born Latino American isn’t truly fluent in Spanish. What does it mean for the young Latino culture when public figures (he mentions Sonia Sotomayor and Vin Diesel) can’t conduct a proper Spanish conversation in public?

This reminds me of the critique of reggaeton music and the constant battle in my state (Florida) between the Puerto Ricans, with their slang-laden Spanish, and all other Spanish speakers. Is it true that butchering a language will ultimately cause other cultural elements to go by the wayside? I’m not sure that any of us can definitively answer this question because we all cling to culture to an individual degree.

I am somewhat on the outside of this dilemma, since I’m a non-Latina white American. However, because of the way that I learned Spanish and the beautiful array of dialects to which I’ve been exposed, I must admit that I have a bit of a preference for “real” Spanish. Although my son hears slang all around him, I find it essential to read to him in Spanish and try to preserve some semblance of grammatical accuracy in his mind. I tend to agree with Clemens that the level of Spanish fluency presented by supposed native speakers in this country is sometimes deplorable, but I also agree with his encouraging point that this may change for the better with our children.

In the article, Clemens does note the current efforts of some U.S.-born Latinos to raise bilingual children, even citing SpanglishBaby as part of the solution to the potential for language disappearance. While it seems that Spanish is all around us, we forget that the older immigrants for whom our businesses and government now translate everything into Spanish may not have prepared their children well enough to carry on the language for good. It is rather fascinating to think that Spanish could have been virtually erased by the third or fourth generation of Latino Americans if it weren’t for active and passionate parents, many of whom weren’t gifted with the greatest Spanish skills.

Though the news may sound a bit grim and critical, this kind of reality check makes me all the more committed to keeping Spanish alive in my household. Ironically, sometimes we need a national snapshot to understand how significant our personal efforts can be.

Check out the comments on the NPR article for a pretty fascinating discussion.

{photo by exoticabooks}

When I watched Ana and Roxana’s interview with Jorge Ramos of Univision last week, I was struck by an irony. Roxana spoke about the fact that the Latino community used to be all for assimilation, thus interested in teaching their kids to be as American as possible, which meant speaking English only (or at least more than Spanish). As evidenced by the growing numbers of SpanglishBaby supporters and the flurry of national conversation about bilingualism, this attitude is changing. The irony is that as the previous generation’s fear of acting or speaking like a Latino is on its way out, white culture has adopted that fear in reverse.

By that, I mean that some whites are now even more hateful toward Latino immigrants and their children than they were before this minority had any chance of becoming the majority. Although there are many non-Hispanic Americans like myself, who are interested in and passionate about giving our children a multicultural and multilingual upbringing, a huge demographic segment still resists the influx of Latinos to this country. Because it’s become harder for these people to avoid all things Latino (por ejemplo: “Press 1 for English, para español marque 2”), they are buckling down and holding tight to somewhat ridiculous representations of white America.

Since when have we cared if road signs or bathroom signs are written in both Spanish and English? Are people truly inconvenienced by extra text that makes no sense to them?

Why do some people get frustrated that their electronics instruction manual is translated into Spanish? That inclusion is just good business sense on the part of the manufacturer.

I admitted in a previous post that the prevalence of Spanish is also difficult for me, even if I understand the words. Yet, I’m not complaining about its availability for those who need it. In fact, I’d rather have warning signs and instructions written in Spanish than endure the consequences of people not following them because they can’t read English. To me, constant visual reminders of how many people in our country would rather read the Spanish part of the sign causes me to pause and be grateful for living in a place where people can thrive (not just get by) even when they do not speak the majority language.

In a time of great change, there will always be backlash. Fears are natural, and both Latinos and whites have felt this particular one – that their comfort zone is slipping away. Because we’ve both felt it, though, we should be more capable of understanding why the other group needs some reminders of home. I can only hope that this culture war inspires people to be more flexible, and especially causes whites to finally see the difference between cultural dominance and the reality of the “melting pot” we claim we have always had. Are we ready for the fact that some people will never mix in that pot, and therefore be  ready to accommodate everyone?

{Photo by incolor-inc}