[EDLING:386] Report Says Calif. is Linguistically Diverse

[Bridget Goodman]

Source:  
http://www.philly.com/inquirer/world_us/20070916_Report_says_Calif__is_linguistically_diverse.html

Philadelphia Inquirer, September 16, 2007

REPORT SAYS CALIF. IS LINGUISTICALLY DIVERSE
In L.A., 53% speak a foreign language at home.

By Anna Gorman and David Pierson
Los Angeles Times

Bienvenidos. Whan young. Dobro pozhalovat. 

In California, "welcome" is more of an international
affair than ever, with 
nearly 43 percent of residents speaking a language
other than English at home, 
according to data released by the U.S. Census Bureau.
The trend was even more 
pronounced in Los Angeles, where more than 53 percent
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. 
Nationwide, almost 20 percent of people older than age
5 spoke a language 
other than English at home in 2006. 

The census numbers are likely to fuel a debate that
has been going on in 
California for decades over immigrants speaking
English vs. 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 Lisa
Yang, a Monterey Park, 
Calif., real estate 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 [I don't understand you].'
" 

Still, she acknowledges 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 represents huge assets for California in
the global economy," said 
Randy Capps, senior research associate at the Urban
Institute, a think tank in 
Washington. 

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. 

Among residents living below the poverty line, 56
percent speak a language 
other than English in the home, compared with 41
percent for those above the 
poverty line, according to the census report. 

"Isolation is problematic," Lane Ryo Hirabayashi,
chair of the University of 
California, Los Angeles' Department of Asian American
Studies. "While it 
reflects the strong ties to the home country, it also
suggests that folks in 
this situation are inherently more cut off from
society and less able to 
participate and take advantage of opportunities here."


The isolation also is felt by some English speakers
living in areas where 
foreign languages are prevalent. Mia Bonavita, a
dental office administrator, 
recently moved from San Diego to Monterey Park, where
business at many stores 
is done in Chinese. Bonavita says the language barrier
is difficult. 
"I feel like an outsider," she said. "It's difficult
to get to know your 
neighbors." 

The linguistic diversity also affects the schools,
where educators struggle to 
meet students' needs. In the Los Angeles Unified
School District, for example, 
more than 265,000 English learners speak 91 languages.
The district has a 
special translation unit, but it must rely on parents
and community members 
for some languages. 

Southern California has numerous ethnic enclaves where
speaking English is not 
a necessity, including parts of the San Gabriel
Valley, Little Saigon, East 
L.A. and Koreatown. Some residents there say the lack
of English hasn't 
diminished their lives. 

Some smaller Southern California communities recorded
even higher percentages 
than Los Angeles, including East L.A. (90 percent), El
Monte (83 percent), 
Santa Ana (82 percent), Alhambra (70 percent), Oxnard
(67 percent), Garden 
Grove (67 percent), and Glendale (64 percent). (The
statewide percentage of 43 
percent is up slightly from data taken a few years
ago.) 





       
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