Parents help their kids speak fluent Spanish and maintain their heritage
Parents help their kids speak fluent Spanish and maintain their heritage
- December 8, 2011
- Ruben Rumbaut, sociology professor, is quoted in the Washington Post, December 7, 2011
From the Washington Post:
Spanish seems so very alive because it is fresh on the lips of so many new arrivals.
Yet, simultaneously, the language is dying daily. Research shows that most grandchildren
of Latino immigrants will sound like gringos. Despite parents' and grandparents' best
efforts, "Spanish appears to draw its last breath in the third generation," said Ruben
Rumbaut, professor of sociology at the University of California at Irvine, a leading
expert in the survival rates of immigrant languages. He calls the United States "the
world's largest language graveyard" because of the cultural power of American English.
For the full story, please visit http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/parents-help-their-kids-sp....
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