Twenty immigrants from seventeen countries are pictured taking the Pledge of Allegiance during ... [+]
According to research that confirms past studies, the concern that immigrants and their children do not learn English is misplaced. Surveys show that even people outside the United States see the value of mastering English. The research may address worries about immigrants and their offspring integrating into American society.
English Language Media
If Latino immigrants and their U.S.-born children knew little English, they would get almost all their news from Spanish language media. New research finds that is not the case. Only 2% of U.S.-born Latinos get most of their news from Spanish-language media, according to a Pew Research Center survey of adults who identify as Hispanic or Latino. Among foreign-born Latinos in the United States, 26% get most of their news from English language media, 43% get most of their news from Spanish-language media outlets, and 33% get their news equally from Spanish and English language media.
“Among Latino immigrants, those who have spent more years in the U.S. are less inclined than more recent arrivals to get news in Spanish, and more inclined to get it in English,” according to the survey.
Global Survey
“Almost 20% of the world’s population speak English as a first, second or additional language with many using it in their jobs,” according to a global survey by Pearson, a language learning company, and PSB Insights. “It is therefore not surprising that today, English has solidified its status as the global language of business.”
The survey results are telling. Ninety-eight percent of Saudis, 94% of Brazilians and 91% of Italians say English is important for their work life and will continue to be so. In Florida, 98% of immigrants polled said English was vital for their work.
The survey results indicate that English is unlikely to be under threat in the United States since even people who live thousands of miles away in other countries see the need to learn the language. The survey found that the desire and perceived need to become proficient in English is even greater among younger people worldwide.
“Thirty-nine percent of Gen Zs felt they could earn between 60% to 100% more if they were able to perform well at work in English—almost double the percentage of Boomers who felt the same (23%),” according to the survey. “This again speaks to a generational shift in the importance placed on English for career advancement.”
The survey and the U.S. experience suggest the economic incentives to learn English are self-evident.
Research On English And Immigrants
According to the report The New Americans, produced as part of the National Academy of Sciences examination of immigration, only 3 percent of immigrants in the country 30 years or more reported not speaking English well in the 1990 Census.
A high level of English language acquisition can also be seen among refugees. More than 83% of refugees coming to the United States between 1985 and 2009 spoke English a year or more after arrival, which rose to 92% a decade later, according to research by economist Mark Regets, a senior fellow at the National Foundation for American Policy. Nearly half of refugees arriving between 1985 and 2009 spoke English well a year or more after arriving. That rose to 66% ten years later, or 35% more.
Spanish-speaking immigrants are unlikely to pass along an inclination to choose Spanish over English to their children and grandchildren. Frank Bean and Ruben Rumbaut (both University of California, Irvine) and Douglas Massey (Princeton University) examined data on California for Mexican-born and other immigrant families from Latin America. They found, “The ability to speak Spanish very well can be expected to disappear sometime between the second and third generation for all Latin American groups in Southern California.”
Bean, Rumbaut and Massey concluded, “Historical and contemporary evidence indicates that English has never been seriously threatened as the dominant language of the United States and . . . it is certainly not threatened today.”
