Essay 4454

From the Los Angeles Times…

------------------------------------

Not at home with English
A new census report says 43% in the state and 53% in L.A. speak a different language in their private lives.

By Anna Gorman and David Pierson
Los Angeles Times Staff Writers

Bienvenidos. Huan ying. Dobro pozhalovat.

In California, “welcome” is more of an international affair than ever -- with nearly 43% of residents speaking a language other than English at home, according to data released Wednesday by the U.S. Census Bureau. The trend was even more pronounced in Los Angeles, where more than 53% of residents speak another language at home.

Spanish is by far the most common, but Californians also converse in Korean, Thai, Russian, Hmong, Armenian and dozens of other languages.

The census numbers are likely to fuel a decades-long debate in California over immigrants continuing to use their native tongue. There have been battles over bilingual education, foreign-language ballots and English-only restrictions on business signs.

While immigration is the driving force for the state’s linguistic diversity, experts said people often speak another language out of choice rather than necessity.

Some do so to get ahead professionally, while others want to maintain connections with their homelands.

“In this century, there’s going to be so much interaction with China, economically, socially and culturally,” said Monterey Park real estate agent Lisa Yang, who insists on speaking Mandarin with her U.S.-born daughter, Melissa Hsu, even on the phone.

Yadira Quezada, 30, speaks mostly English at work, where she coordinates an after-school program for elementary students in Los Angeles.

But at home, she speaks only Spanish. She and her husband are fluent in English, but they don’t want their four sons to lose their Spanish or to sound like “gringos” when they speak it.

“When they say something in English, we act like we don’t understand,” Quezada said. “We say, ‘No entiendo.’”

But she acknowledges that the bilingual world her family has chosen -- mostly English during work and school, mostly Spanish at home -- can be confusing. “I am thinking in English and Spanish at the same time,” she said.

Because California has strong ties to Asia and Latin America, some language experts believe the loyalty to native tongues has advantages.

“It really represent huge assets for California in the global economy,” said Randy Capps, senior research associate at the Urban Institute, a think tank based in Washington, D.C.

The downside is that many people who speak other languages at home are not proficient in English -- making them more likely to earn low wages and live in poor neighborhoods, Capps said.

[Click on the essay title above to read the full story.]