Spanish in the US

[Stan and Sandy Anonby]

I've been following the scuttlebut about English only and the translation of the "Star Spangled Banner". I'm here in the States teaching in a summer session in North Dakota, and the subject has come up. I'd like to throw out an observation made by a student from California. Her comment was that the Hispanics in Fresno are divided into three groups:

The first group is formed by people directly from Mexico. They speak English poorly, but "are the most American". She said you can tell who they are because they all have American flags hanging from their windows. 

The second group is formed by their children. They're just living life, are bilingual, and don't think or talk about who they are much.

The third group is the third generation. These people don't speak Spanish, only English. However, they're the ones who are most vocal about language rights and being Mexican. They are the ones who hang Mexican flags in their windows, and say, "Viva la raza!" 

I'm not an American myself, so I can't vouch for any of this.

It does ring more or less true to me, though. I've seen similar phenomena among Indigenous peoples in Brazil and Canada. 

Any comments?

Stan Anonby
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