Lost in Translation: Language Segregation Among Hispanics in the United States?

Juan Pedroza , University of California, Santa Cruz

Over 50 million Hispanics live in the United States. One-quarter speak English but no other language, and another 40% speak English very well. The other 18 million Hispanics are split between those who speak English well (38%), not well (37%), and not at all (26%). Remarkably, we know little about where Hispanics with divergent English language skills live. It is possible Hispanics live mostly side-by-side in the same neighborhoods (or under the same roof) regardless of English language skills. But what if Hispanics who speak little or no English instead live apart from other Hispanics? Answering this question requires reviving a neglected strand of demographic research: language segregation. The large, growing, and spatially dispersed Hispanic population affords us the opportunity to study language segregation across a wide range of neighborhoods in the United States.

See

 Presented in Session 9. Marriage, Family, Households, & Unions; Gender, Race, & Ethnicity