Just 34 percent of Hispanic immigrants are proficient in English, the same percentage as in 1980, according to a new Pew Research Center survey.
But the share of U.S.-born Hispanics who speak English “very well” is on the rise and high, at 89 percent. And that’s important because U.S.-born Latinos outnumber foreign born by two-to-one.
Said Pew in its latest survey on Hispanic trends, the “share of foreign-born Latinos who speak English proficiently is little changed since 1980, even though the number that is English-proficient has grown. In 2013, 34 percent of foreign-born Latinos spoke English proficiently, numbering 6.5 million. In 1980, that share was 31 percent and numbered 1.3 million.”
The survey showed the divide in language proficiency between those Hispanics born in America and those who came in legally or illegally. A key finding was that English proficiency jumped in homes where English is spoken, which is also on the rise.
Pew found that about one-third of all Hispanics don’t speak English well. Said the analysis, “12.5 million Hispanics in 2013 said they speak English but rate their speaking ability as less than ‘very well.’ And an additional 3.2 million say they do not speak English at all. Together, these groups of Hispanics make up one-third (32 percent) of all Hispanics ages 5 and older.”
Read the full Pew analysis here.
Paul Bedard, the Washington Examiner’s “Washington Secrets” columnist, can be contacted at [email protected].
