English usage by Latinos a 'flash point'

Most Latino immigrants' children are fluent in English, as are nearly all of their grandchildren. However, less than a quarter of those immigrants say they can carry on a conversation in English very well, according to a Pew Hispanic Center report released Thursday.

The report, "English Usage Among Hispanics in the United States," suggests most Latinos believe English is a necessary skill to succeed in the U.S. At the same time, more than half believe that the inability to speak English — not immigration status — is the leading cause of discrimination against Latinos.

There are an estimated 37.5 million foreign-born residents in the United States, according to a 2006 census survey — the largest influx of immigrants in a century, according to the report.

"The language skills of these foreign-born residents are a flash point in a broader U.S. political debate over immigration," says the report, which does not break out the undocumented population. It includes six surveys of more than 14,000 Latino adults conducted for the Pew Hispanic Center from April 2002 to October 2006, as well as a survey conducted this October and November. Latinos born in Puerto Rico are included as foreign-born because many arrive on the mainland as Spanish speakers.

"Language is a way in which people bond themselves to the greater society," said D'Vera Cohn, co-author of the report. "It's a way of getting a good job, saying hello to your neighbor. ... We wanted to track how well this marker of society's doing across Latino generations."

The report didn't look at why Latino immigrants didn't learn English. However, it did find that those who have a college education arrived in the United States as children, or who lived here for several years have higher levels of English proficiency. Mexican immigrants have the least English-speaking ability, while Puerto Ricans and South Americans have the highest, the report found.

Citizenship also may play a role. Some 52 percent of naturalized citizens spoke English either very well or pretty well, compared to 25 percent of non-citizens, the report found.

More than half of Latino immigrants speak only Spanish at home, and 28 percent speak only Spanish at work.

While nearly three-in-four Latino immigrants speak either all Spanish or mostly Spanish at home, that ratio flips by the third generation — three quarters of whom speak all or mostly English at home.

"By the third generation and beyond, English is dominant, and Spanish has faded into the background," Cohn said.