#heritage language

Broadly speaking, a heritage speaker is someone who has a connection to a language through membership in the related community, family history, or culture. The term can also refer to people who learned their first language in a place where a different language is dominant, leading to a second language becoming more dominant in their lives.

Heritage speakers can vary a ton in how much of their heritage language they know, from never having encountered it to being nearly indistinguishable from native speakers.

This article (by and for heritage speakers) delves more into what these terms mean in lived experiences.

Chart: Most U.S. Hispanics speak Spanish (2023 Pew Research) Original source: https://www.pewresearch.org/race-ethnicity/2023/09/20/latinos-views-of-and-experiences-with-the-spanish-language/

...about half (54%) of non-Spanish-speaking Hispanics have been shamed by other Hispanics for not speaking Spanish.

78% of U.S. Hispanics say it is not necessary to speak Spanish in order to be considered Hispanic.

Most U.S. Latinos speak Spanish: 75% say they are able to carry on a conversation in Spanish pretty well or very well. And most Latinos (85%) say it is at least somewhat important for future generations of Latinos in the United States to speak Spanish.

The History Of California's No Spanish Rule How To L.A. podcast (2023)

Ep #166: Back in the late 1800s, California leaders got together to rewrite the state's constitution. It was proposed that all government documents should only be written in English and that official business only be spoken in English. That proposal was soon adopted, effectively banning Spanish for official use, despite promises made after the end of Mexican-American war to create space for the language. It's a decision that continued to affect California classrooms decades later. But one higher ed system in the state is taking steps to reverse it.

On Eladio Carrión, whose song” Coco Chanel,” (with Bad Bunny,) was named best rap/hip-hop song at  the 2023 Latin Grammys https://www.latimes.com/delos/story/2024-01-22/eladio-carrion-sol-maria-latin-grammy-kids-sitcom

Carrión is also developing a sitcom with Rubicon Global Media, based on his real life as a reformed “no sabo kid.” Born into an Army family in Kansas City, Kan.,  he lived in several states before landing in Humacao, Puerto Rico at 10 years old. He learned to rap in Spanish after seeing Wisin y Yandel in concert as a middle schooler

How language affects identity for Latinos (2023) https://www.latimes.com/lifestyle/story/2023-01-31/how-language-affects-identity-for-latinos

The Language Preservation Project conducted a study on Latinos in the Denver area who lost their heritage language, and Benavides said it found two major themes: People felt pride when they could speak their heritage language and shame when they couldn’t.

The study shaped her organization’s work with parents and educators on how to sustain one’s heritage language and pass it on to future generations.

Benavides said it’s important to them that program participants understand that language loss doesn’t happen because of an individual’s personal failure, but because of historic and prevailing systemic barriers.