Posts Tagged: Spanish language
Most Hispanic parents speak Spanish to their children, but this is less the case in later immigrant generations
Overall, 85% of Latino parents say they speak Spanish to their children, according to the Center's 2015 National Survey of Latinos. Among immigrant parents, nearly all (97%) say they do this. But the share drops to 71% among U.S.-born second-generation Latino parents (those with at least one immigrant parent). And the share falls to just 49% among third or higher generation Latino parents – those born in the U.S. to U.S.-born parents.
Spanish use also declines in mixed families where one spouse or partner is non-Latino. About 92% of Latino parents with a Latino spouse or partner speak Spanish to their children. By contrast, just 55% of Latino parents with a non-Latino-partner or spouse say they speak Spanish to their children.
Spanish has long been a part of life for today's Latino adults. Nine-in-ten (90%) say Spanish was spoken in their home when they were growing up, and 81% say their parents often or sometimes encouraged them to speak Spanish when growing up. (Notably, 20% of Latino adults say their parents often or sometimes discouraged them from speaking Spanish when growing up.) Today, nearly all Latinos (96%) say their parents speak Spanish, and unlike some other language measures, this share holds relatively steady across generations.
Not only do nearly all Hispanic adults have a personal connection to Spanish, they also express a desire for the language to live on: 88% say it is important to them that future generations of Hispanics living in the U.S. be able to speak Spanish, with vast majorities holding this view across generations.
Overall, about 40 million people in the U.S. speak Spanish at home, making it the country's second-most spoken language. At the same time, growth in the number of Spanish-speaking Hispanics has slowed, according to the Center's analysis of U.S. Census Bureau data. As a result, the share of Hispanics who speak Spanish at home has declined, while the share that speaks only English at home has increased, especially among children.
These trends are expected to continue as Hispanics born in the U.S. increasingly drive the group's population growth, in large part due to slowing immigration from Mexico (and, to a lesser extent, high intermarriage rates). Already, most U.S. Hispanics say a person doesn't need to speak Spanish to be considered Hispanic.
Source: Published originally on pewresearch.org, Most Hispanic parents speak Spanish to their children, but this is less the case in later immigrant generations, by Mark Hugo Lopez, Jens Manuel Krogstad & Antonio Flores, April 2nd 18th , 2018.
Fox News Latino poll: 79% of Latinos prefer to get their news in English
The theory has always been that the best way to tap into the fast-growing segment of the population, with its $1.3 trillion spending power and increasing political influence, was to do so in its native language.
But a new poll by Fox News Latino turns that theory on its head.
When asked in what language they prefer to get their news, 79 percent of registered Latino voters said they preferred their news in English.
“I'm not incredibly surprised. It reflects a demographic shift as second-, third- and even fourth-generation Latinos, who identify with their culture, but English is their dominant language,” Jessica J. Gonzalez, executive vice president and general counsel of the National Hispanic Media Coalition, told Fox News Latino.
The poll surveyed 803 registered Latino voters nationwide between Aug. 7 and 10. The poll, which has a sampling error margin of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points, was conducted under the direction of Anderson Robbins Research (D) and Shaw & Company Research (R).
“This is why our agency has been focused on infusing more people of color into Latino media for years. For a long time, there's been an assumption that all Latinos have been watching news in Spanish,” Gonzalez added.
Following the trend, Univision, which began in 1962 as a Spanish-language news channel, launched Univision News this year with news targeting “English-dominant” Latinos.
In 2010, Fox News Latino launched a ground-breaking website appealing to second- and third-generation Hispanics with national news in English. Fox News Latino launched to fill a gap in the media for Latinos looking for news about their community in English.
According to the Pew Research Center, 62 percent of Hispanics speak primarily English or are bilingual.
"When I was growing up, speaking Spanish was something that people didn't do,” Mark Hugo Lopez at the Pew Research Center told Univision. “People were trying to run away from all those things that were Mexican.”
Aly Col?n, John S. and James L. Knight Professor of Media Ethics at Washington and Lee University in Virginia, said that when you compare Univision with its main Spanish-language rival, Telemundo, you see that Univision is looking more toward an English-oriented audience, which means a younger and more affluent group. In comparison, he said, Spanish-language network Telemundo is looking to reach more recent immigrants from Latin America.
“The news media looks at [their audiences] as one thing, but really it's multiple things. But depending on how they view their audience will determine whether it's in English or Spanish,” Col?n told Fox News Latino.
Gonzalez said she believes the lack of newsroom diversity is the true missed opportunity.
“If you're not serving your audience, they're not going to watch,” Gonzalez said. “At a conference of ours recently, [ABC News correspondent] John Quiñones talked about how he was able to gather news as a Latino that his non-Latino peers could not – because the community was comfortable with him and he was comfortable in the community.”
Source: Published originally on Fox News Latino, Fox News Latino poll: 79% of Latinos prefer to get their news in English, by Rebekah Sager, August 15, 2016
Look beyond language to reach Hispanics
A paper in the Journal of Cultural Marketing Strategy, authored by MAGNA GLOBAL and the Center for Multicultural Science, looked at media behaviors across three generational levels – first, second and third – for the US Latino population, in what it claimed was the first such study.
And it reported that marketers' understanding of the nuances of the Latino population needed to go beyond language to encompass a broader cultural understanding.
The study highlighted the fact that Spanish-language TV stations Univision and Telemundo ranked first and second in the most-watched TV networks among first-generation Hispanics.
But Univision ranked only fifth among second-generation Hispanics, while for third-generation Hispanics, the top five most watched TV networks were all in English.
The trend was apparent within age groups as well as across generations, in that the greater the length of time in the country the more likely first-generation Latinos were to watch English-language TV networks; the proportion increased by as much as 20-30 percentage points depending on how long they had been in the US.
Dr. Jake Beniflah, executive director at the Center for Multicultural Science, described the findings of the study as "paradigm shifting" and said there were major implications for how marketers effectively reach Latinos on television.
"Because the Latino population is changing, we need to adopt new TV audience measures," he explained. "Our research showed that using generational level is an effective predictor of what TV programs US Latinos are watching."
For MAGNA GLOBAL, Brian Hughes, svp/audience measurement, said "using generational level and years-in-country can help marketers pinpoint which type of media outlet will reach a specific Latino audience most effectively".
Source: Published originally on Warc.com as Look beyond language to reach Hispanics, October 20, 2015.
Mapping radio’s reach with Hispanic consumers
This growth trend is also evident when examining Black and Hispanic audiences—the weekly reach of radio among Blacks and Hispanics has been growing steadily over the past five years. Since 2011, the weekly national Black radio audience has grown 5% (from 29.8 million to 31.3 million) while the Hispanic audience has grown 11% (from 36.5 million to 40.4 million). Combined, these groups account for almost a third (29.3%) of the national audience, representing 71.7 million audio consumers.
And because radio reaches more than 90% of both of these audiences, the footprint of where that listening is highest mirrors the larger population trends taking place in the U.S. today. When looking at the markets and states with the highest penetration of listening to urban or Spanish language formats—the formats most popular with Black and Hispanic listeners, respectively—geography and market size play a large role in scoring which parts of the map index above or below the national average for audience share to those formats.
The states with the highest share of Black consumers listening to urban radio formats are centered in the East, specifically the mid-Atlantic and the South. There are only two states west of the Mississippi (Arkansas and Louisiana) that index above the national average.
Conversely, the Hispanic map looks a bit different, where western states and states with large urban areas (New York and Chicago) lead the way for listening to Spanish language radio.
The power of radio is evident not just as a whole, but also within the diverse communities of listeners stretching from coast to coast. In this quarter's report, we focus on the record 71.7 million blacks and Hispanics who combine to account for almost a third (29.3%) of the national average quarter hour (AQH) audience.
These black and Hispanic consumers spend more time with radio each week than any other group, and possess enormous buying power for advertisers looking to reach a qualified audience when they are away from home and in the marketplace ready to purchase.
Music is a key component of Hispanic life and Hispanics are among the most enthusiastic consumers of music across a variety of genres regardless of acculturation level. Having roots in Mexico and various countries across Central America, South America and the Caribbean, Hispanics are diverse, speak multiple languages, and straddle multiple cultures. There is no single narrative that applies to those who identify themselves as Hispanic. Some are recent immigrants who speak only Spanish, some are descendants of families who immigrated generations ago and speak only English, and some speak Spanish and English with equal ease.
One thing that binds Hispanics together is a passion for music.
A Love For Music
The average Hispanic spends $135 per year on music, considerably more than the average consumer, who spends $105 per year. Much of this difference is explained by Hispanics' love of live music and a cultural tradition that values communal celebration.
Source: Published originally on Nielsen.com as Mapping Radio's Reach with Black and Hispanic Consumers, August 4, 2015.
U.S. is the No. 2 Spanish-Speaking Country in the World
Instituto Cervantes, based in Spain, reported there are 41 million native Spanish speakers in the U.S. and 11.6 million who are bilingual for a total of 52.6 million.
That puts the U.S. second to its neighbor to the south, Mexico and ahead of Colombia, where Spanish speakers total 121 million and 46 million respectively, the Guardian reported.
According to the report, Spanish was the native tongue of 470 million people worldwide this year and some 559 million have some usage of the language, either because they are native speakers, have some proficiency or are learning the language.
In May, Pew Research Center's Hispanic Trends reported that English use was increasing among Latinos in the U.S. Meanwhile, the share of Hispanics who speak Spanish at home had been declining for the past 13 years. Despite the decline, a record 35.8 million Latinos speak Spanish at home. The record increases while there is a decline because of the growth in the Latino population.
Source: Originally published on CBS News as U.S. is the No. 2 Spanish-Speaking Country in the World, Jun 29 2015