Language in the Hispanic Community

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Language in the Hispanic Community!
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Audrie, Jamie, Wandy, Wendy, Arelis Five women
from very different backgrounds and various
ethnicities worked together on this project, to
gather information on the use and attitudes of
language within the Hispanic community.  We
surveyed seventy-five participants regarding
their native language and their feelings about
learning a second language. Our participants
were both male and female, ranging in age from
18-61.  Most of the people surveyed came from
Santo Domingo or Puerto Rico.  A small
percentage were from other countries.  The
following presentation are the results we
discovered.  
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  Cultural Inquiry questionnaire   1.       
Sex ______M _______F 2.       
Age ______ 3.        Ethnicity _________________
______________ 4.        Where were you
born? _______________________________ 5.       
What is your level of education?
___________________________ 6.        Where did
you receive your education? ______________________
7.        Is English your first
language? ________Yes _______No a.       If not,
which language is? __________________________ 8.  
      At what age did you learn your second
language? _____________ 9.        Are
you __________ Married ______ Single _______Divor
ced 10.     If married, what language(s) does
your spouse speak? ___________________ a.      
Which was your spouses first language?
________________________ 11.     What language do
you speak in your home? ___________________ 12.   
  How much time do you spend a.       Watching
TV? _____ English _____Spanish ______Other b.   
    Reading? _____ English _____Spanish ______Ot
her c.       Listening to music? _____
English _____Spanish ______Other 13.     Do you
have children? _______Yes ________No (skip to
question 19) 14.     Where were they born?
_________________________________ 15.     Which
languages do your children speak?
_________________________________________ 16.    
What was your childrens first language?
__________________________________________ 17.    
When did they learn their second language?
_______________________________________ 18.    
What language do your children prefer to speak?
__________________________________ 19.     Would
you want your children to learn English or
Spanish first? __________English
__________Spanish a.       Why?
__________________________________________________
______________ ______________ 20.     What type
of school a.       Did you attend? _________Publi
c ______ Private b.       Do your children
attend? ______ Public ______ Private 21.    
What language a.       Did you speak in school?
_______________________________________________ b.
       Do your children speak in school?
________________________________________ c.      
Do you do better with? ___________________________
_______________________ d.       Do your children
do better with? __________________________________
________ 22.     Were you in a bilingual
education class? _______Yes _______No a.      
Are your children in a bilingual education
class? ________Yes _______No 23.     Have there
been any benefits to bilingual education? _______Y
es _______No Explain_____________________________
__________________________________________________
___________________
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One day in our Inquiry in Education class we were
assigned to sit in a group and discuss the topic
we were interested in basing our cultural inquiry
upon. In the group I was part of there were four
other women, and our topics were as different as
we each were. They varied everywhere from
immigration to education. During our discussion
I expressed an interest in the topic relating to
language and children. After further discussion
this evolved into an idea that we were all very
interested in. The purpose of our inquiry was to
find out about our Spanish language was really
being passed on future generations of Hispanic
and Latino children. For this we interviewed
Hispanic and Latino adults. Some of the problems
we encountered were with our questionnaire. It
was difficult to come up with questions that
would reveal to us what we really wanted to find
out. Another problem came with getting our
subjects it wasnt as easy as we had first
thought, but eventually we got our work done. The
biggest obstacle we faced was when we were done
with our questionnaire, we had large amounts of
information on each questionnaire and we had
seventy-five of them. We eventually figured out
how to divide our information so that it would be
easier to be processed and recorded. We broke
them into groups of adults born in the USA and
those that were not we also split each of those
two groups into the level of education completed
by the adults. We had decided that these two
factors would greatly affect what language the
children of the subjects would speak, and surely
enough it did. For my part of the project I
dealt with adults who were not born in the USA
and who had college level education. There were
thirty-one persons who fell under this category,
an of those only 5 that were not parents. Being
that those parents were not born in this country,
all of them had learned Spanish as a first
language. Although they had learned Spanish as a
first language most of them spoke English and
Spanish in their home but they only gained
majority over those who only spoke Spanish by
one. I had expected for there to be more parents
who spoke both, due to their educational level.
The charts you will see later on break down this
information further. I fear that as we move on
from generation to generation the emphasis on
preserving our language isnt as strong or as
effective as it should be. Our language is such
an essential part of our culture, isnt language
said to be a barrier, it sets us apart form other
cultures. If we lose language how long will it
be then until we assimilate so much into American
culture that we loose our own. This is something
that I will try to fight by at least keeping our
culture and language alive in my
family. By Wandy
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Of Males and Females Surveyed

• 77

• 23

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EthnicityNote Dominican and Puerto Rican Were
the Major Ethnicity's Reported in This Survey.
All Other Ethnicities , Due to Tremendous
Variation, Were Grouped As Other
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Age of Those Interviewed
20 and under
9 people 21-30 years
21 people
31-40 years 24 people
41-60 years
14 people
61 years old 1 person
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Marital Status ()
Single Married Divorced
39 43 18
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Spanish As a Second Language By Audrie

• It was difficult to learn Spanish after being
  born, in Brooklyn, to second generation Puerto
  Ricans. Then six years after my birth, my family
  moved to a small mid-western town where the only
  people that spoke Spanish were my parents and
  they had no need to speak Spanish anymore. Four
  years later my family moved back to NYC. Here
  everyone in my neighborhood spoke Spanish. I now
  needed to learn Spanish to communicate with the
  people around me, especially my grandparents. It
  was a struggle to learn just enough Spanish to
  get my point across and I must admit Im still
  struggling to learn the language. Being a third
  generation Puerto Rican American almost caused me
  to lose my heritage. My grandmother lives with
  me now. Everyday I pick her brain for insights
  into my people and my culture.

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of Individuals Surveyed With children
Seventy Two
72 Percent
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Place of birth-The
surveyed America 31 people Other
44people
-Place of Birth Note 28 of the individuals we
surveyed did Not have children. Therefor, this
graph represents the birthplace of only those
born to the individuals that were surveyed
Place of birth -Their children America 46
children Other 8 children
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First Language

• English
• 37
• Spanish
• 63

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Age of Second Language Acquisition

• Note15 (or 12 individuals) did not remember the
  age at which they acquired their second language

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Level of Education
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Country From Which The Individual Received Their
Education
Note 2 of the individuals surveyed did not
answer this question United States 68 other
15


15
Both(U.S other)
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Why I became interested in Bilingual Education!
By Jamie
There are a few reasons why I became interested
in bilingual education. The most important reason
has to do with my son. I became very interested
in bilingual education when I gave birth to my
son Skyler. Being that Skyler is both Irish and
Dominican, language as well as culture became
even more important to me then ever. I wanted my
son to experience both languages as well as
cultures. Another reason why I became so
interested in bilingual education has to do with
my sons father,Oscar who grew up in the Dominican
republic and moved to the united states when he
was fourteen. Being that he only spoke Spanish he
was put into bilingual education classes and
stayed there until he went away to college. It
was only then, at the age of nineteen that he
began to speak in English. This was a very hard
obstacle for him as he had to quickly learn
English in order to succeed in his studies. Oscar
today is fluent in both English and Spanish.
Oscar now prefers English over Spanish, as he
feels that English will be more beneficial to him
as well as his son. Oscar now makes it a priority
to make sure that Skylers first language is
English
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Of Children Enrolled in a Bilingual or
Monolingual Class
Bilingual class (Spanish and English)
15 Monolingual class (English
only) 44
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Type of School Attended
79
47 Public school Attended
send their children Public
school to public
school Private school
21
25 Attended
send their children Private
school to private
school
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Breakdown of Language and use
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(No Transcript)
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(No Transcript)
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Born Outside USA
College Level Education
31 Adults
of Parents
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Language Adults
Speak at
Home
English
Both
Spanish
3
12
11
Children Speak
Children Speak
Children Speak
English
Both
English
Both
Spanish
Both
Spanish
1
2
3
3
6
5
6
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When I first came to the United States I felt
that I was in the wrong place because when I was
sent to school I was put in an English only
class. Now I understand that, at that time I
thought it was wrong, I see that it was to my
advantage. Being place in a English monolingual
class helped me learn English in a short amount
of time. At the present I am fluent in both
English and Spanish . I have a one and a half
year old daughter and I plan to teach her both
English and Spanish. I believe that teaching
her a second language will be beneficial for her
in the future. By Wendy
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Children Whose First Language Was English from
parents born outside of the US with a college
level of education
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Age Range of Males and Females Interviewed
participants surveyed that were born outside the
US with a college level of education
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Children of Parents Whose First Language Was
Spanish from parents with a college level of
education
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