The future of Spanish the US

[shamantime]

When I think culture I instantly try to associate a language with that culture. Japan and japanese, Puerto Rico and Spanish, Germany and german, UK and English. My point is you cannot say language isn't apart of a culture, when it is so obviously the root of said culture.

[Underverse]

Not really.

There was an upsurge of separatist feeling starting in the '60s, and it was never really a majority in Quebec. The cultural division you speak of never really existed, any more than there is between, say, Texas and the rest of the US. Where there's actually a greater history of secessionist thought.

And you're missing the point; the American Southwest was never completely English. There's the same legacy of hundreds of years of shared cultural history.

Which is fairly readily apparent if you look at place names, in particular. Los Angeles, San Francisco, Las Vegas, etc. Those are Spanish names.

The secessionist mindset is present in Texas but it's more concentrated to the central south/southeast, which was not part of mexico, and so I would call this correlation into question.

I don't live in Quebec, so I can't really speak from experience, but it seems like those living there have some different ideas on integration:

"Despite an official national bilingualism policy, many French commentators from the Province of Quebec believe multiculturalism threatened to reduce them to just another ethnic group.[85][86] Quebec's policy seeks to promote interculturalism, welcoming people of all origins while insisting that they integrate into Quebec's majority French-speaking society.[87] In 2008, a Consultation Commission on Accommodation Practices Related to Cultural Differences, headed by sociologist Gerard Bouchard and philosopher Charles Taylor, recognized that Quebec is a de facto pluralist society, but that the Canadian multiculturalism model "does not appear well suited to conditions in Quebec".[88]"

[satimy]

You should need to speak english to be even considered eligible for US citizenship or work visas, thats my view.

[Deleted]

It'll probably stay the same. It's honestly not a problem as long as people strive to be decent with english.

[PACOX]

It should of never been as strong as it is now. Hopefully it never rises again.

Wait really?

The 3 most spoken languages in the US are:

English
Spanish
French

In that short list you have the history of the US, the cultural background of the US, and why we don't have an official language.

Much of the southern portion of the US (not the south but the bottom half of the US) was owed by the Spanish, French, or Mexicans. Their cultural influences didn't suddenly go away when the US annexed them nor is the US really old enough for them to have completely gone away with time.

People are so afraid of multiculturalism and then claim its holding society back when they are the ones afraid to change.

[Bumbasta]

The US doesn't share a border with South America. Portuguese is also prominent in South American countries.

Not with South America, but it does with Spanish speakign countries. And Portuguese is only spoken in Brazil.

[artemishunter1]

Life would be simple if you never left the United States Anglo Sphere.
That is the bonus for people who go nowhere, who grow up and move 20 miles away and are monolinguistic.
You can act totally immune to everything outside the bubble your parents raised you in.

A single language will FAR better than having hodge podge language, that we have now. The simple forms alone costs staggering amounts, considering how many different languages you have to print. These different languages are barrier for communication, and true global connectedness.

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Wait really?

The 3 most spoken languages in the US are:

English
Spanish
French

In that short list you have the history of the US, the cultural background of the US, and why we don't have an official language.

Much of the southern portion of the US (not the south but the bottom half of the US) was owed by the Spanish, French, or Mexicans. Their cultural influences didn't suddenly go away when the US annexed them nor is the US really old enough for them to have completely gone away with time.

People are so afraid of multiculturalism and then claim its holding society back when they are the ones afraid to change.

Multiculturalism is bad as it encourages stagnation, rather than new identities adding to existing structure i.e. assimilation.

[Tailswipe]

Why on earth would a second language being prevalent in the US be a "bad thing"? That seems pretty patently ridiculous. Speaking as someone from a bilingual country, it isn't that big a deal.

The problem comes when there isn't a lingua franca. It's not a big deal if 20% of the USA speaks Spanish at home but it's a huge problem if they can't communicate with the other 80% in English at work/school/college etc. Speaking as someone from a country with eleven official languages, it is a big deal.

[Puupi]

Finland is a bilingual country. There are only roughly 5% of Swedish speakers though.

The only problem (in addition to economic costs) with having two official languages is that everyone needs to learn Swedish in school even though they never learn it good enough to actually use it, nor there is a need for Swedish for majority of people. That time could be spent on studying some other, more useful, language or something completely else. That said, it's only a matter of time when Swedish will no longer be taught as a mandatory language in school.
If someone wants to learn Swedish, they obviously still can. I probably would have studied Swedish if it was optional, too. Can't say for sure, though, it really depends what is the option - that thing varies between schools and their timetables.


I don't see country being bilingual, aka two official languages, a good thing. It's a huge burden and it doesn't have any value really.

PS. USA; pick a damn official language. You don't even have one.

[PACOX]

A single language will FAR better than having hodge podge language, that we have now. The simple forms alone costs staggering amounts, considering how many different languages you have to print. These different languages are barrier for communication, and true global connectedness.

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Multiculturalism is bad as it encourages stagnation, rather than new identities adding to existing structure i.e. assimilation.

Assimilation is where one group becomes like another. Multiculturalism where multicultures coexist which creates a diverse environment where they can borrow from one another.

[Aberrict]

Once the immigration of Spanish speakers declines past a certain point it will fade. Not completely, but descendants tend to adopt English as their primary and only language. My own family is an example. My great-grandparents on both sides on my family had Armenian as their first language. My grandparents also speak Armenian, but not fluently. My parents/uncles/aunt know less. I/my brother/cousins know little to none.

[Kapadons]

Mexican border where Spanish is the primary language

As in what is spoken? As far as I'm aware there aren't any towns in America where government and business are all Spanish. But that is just my limited experience in Texas border towns.


But you are right that newer generations tend to speak English and less Spanish.Part of that is all public schools in the US use English as their primary language. Again, correct me if I'm wrong.

And my wife's coworker and one of our good friends was born and raised in Puerto Rico. He says they were required to take English lesson 1 hour a day while in school. He said it's very hard their to pick up English though because other than that hour no one speaks to you in English. His wife speaks very little English, he speaks English very well but with a very thick accent. And his 18 yr and 15 yr old daughters speak English just fine with very little accent. They have been here for about 5 years now.

[Elegiac]

Has a future? probably. Unfortunately for Spanish it does not have the far reaching use that English currently does.

Despite the fact that it is spoken in almost every country south of the border in this hemisphere, barring French and Portuguese.

[Coraulten]

As selfish as it is, i never learned spanish at a young age and trying to learn it now is obscenely hard i do not believe i have the mindset to learn secondary languages as such i do not wish for Spanish to become prevalent in a society thats a large majority english speaking. I have no ill-will towards Spanish speakers and do not advocate anti immigration i just merely do not wish to have to learn a second language to function. I believe we should make a national language and it should be english.

[Rumred]

I think it will somewhat become less common as time goes on but yeah i think it will stay a secondary language. People worried about people not learning English and Spanish taking over should chill. Yeah its annoying as hell people dont learn the native language years after moving here true. But if you look at the kids they have most if not all of them are fluent in both English and Spanish. I doubt it was any different when other groups came over in the past such as the Chinese,Germans and Italians. Also we are still incorporating alot of Spanish words into our English vocab.Its always a good thing for a language to take words from other languages and grow. Hell English was a mix or Celtic languages with Frankish,Norse,Latin and Germanic.

[Khoranth]

I do not consider this a problem. There is a huge economic incentive for Spanish speaking citizens to learn English, and make sure their kids learn English. If you get out in the world, you will see that Latin-American immigrants who speak English well have access to some really high paying, prominent jobs.

The gov't should really stay out of this situation, it will take care of itself.

[Mormolyce]

I imagine it'll stay at roughly the same level as now.

Don't see the big deal either way, language just happens. Nothing wrong with being a bilingual country either.

Spanish is, without a doubt, the main "second language" of the United States.

Not counting ebonics?

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My bad, I meant some, but I guess even that would have been wrong. I could have sworn a couple other smaller countries in South America spoke it as their official language. Granted, even by itself Brazil is kind of a big South American deal.

I think Spanish and Portugese are mutually intelligible anyway.

Though I could be wrong, to me Portugese sounds way different.

[Deleted]

Language isn't an either/or thing. They're mutually supportive.

Wrong on all accounts there buddy.

[TrumpIsPresident]

Do you think there is any connection between government manipulating Hispanics into thinking they need not learn proper English, and government wanting to grow the permanent underclass?

I know for a fact there is when it comes to Black's and Ebonics because I've lived it.

Disclaimer: Question is mostly directed towards American Hispanics and is not soliciting opinions about government and/or politics.


[Infracted]

[Elegiac]

Do you think there is any connection between government manipulating Hispanics into thinking they need not learn proper English, and government wanting to grow the permanent underclass?

I know for a fact there is when it comes to Black's and Ebonics because I've lived it.

Disclaimer: Question is mostly directed towards American Hispanics and is not soliciting opinions about government and/or politics.

No. Conspiracy theories are not permitted here.