By Peter Kaufman

¿Se habla español? ¿En su vida, ve y oye español en las calles, en las
tiendas, en la televisión y en su escuela? Es probable, porque la población de
personas que hablan español en los Estados Unidos está creciendo rápidamente.
Hoy, hay más de 50 millones personas que hablan español en este país. En menos
de cuarenta años, la cantidad de personas que hablan español será más de 130 millones—esto será el 30% de la población de los
Estados Unidos. 

Did you understand anything above? Are you wondering why I started out this
blog in Spanish? It is not because I am bilingual, although I have been studying
Spanish in an effort to become somewhat proficient in the language. And it is
not because this month (September 15 to October 15) is Hispanic Heritage month. To
understand why I began in Spanish it is necessary to understand what I wrote.

Here is the translation:

Do you speak Spanish? In your everyday life, do you see and hear Spanish as
you’re walking down the street, shopping in stores, watching television, or in
your school? It is likely that you do because the population of Spanish speakers
in the United States is growing rapidly. Today, there are more than 50 million
Spanish-speakers in the U.S. and in just 40 years that number will increase to
over 130 million. This will amount to 30% of the entire
population.

Now do you understand why that first paragraph is in Spanish? Spanish is the
second most common language in the United States. In fact, more people speak Spanish than speak Chinese,
French, German, and Italian
combined. In the not too distant future Spanish may well become
the unofficial co-language of the United States. Given
all of this, it seems useful that we all become a little more comfortable with
Spanish—especially if we see ourselves as being sociologically mindful.

One of the most popular topics for sociologists to study is social change and
one of the more significant social changes that affect any society is
demographic change. Demographics are the
statistical data that are gathered about a population. They often include
variables such as race, gender, income, sexual orientation, age, religion,
geographic location, and employment status. Sociologists use these statistics to
make sense of social processes and even to predict social outcomes.

The social changes that are occurring as a result of the increasing
Spanish-speaking population are something most of us experience on a daily
basis. Many businesses now have signs and labels in English and Spanish.
Transportation hubs such as airports, bus terminals, and train stations usually
offer bilingual (or multi-lingual) instructions. And many governmental
forms are now available not just in English and Spanish but in a myriad of
other languages such as Chinese (simplified and traditional), Korean, Russian
and Vietnamese.

These social changes are all relatively recent and they are occurring quite
rapidly. As I was growing up it was rare for me to see nutritional facts written
in Spanish on a box of cereal, to find a Chinese-language television station as
I channel surfed, or to see NBA basketball players wearing jerseys with their
team names in Spanish (this I never saw until very recently).

One social institution where these changes are especially evident,
particularly for Spanish-speaking individuals, is in the classroom. As any
student or teacher will tell you the population of Spanish-speakers is
increasing each year. In fact, the number of Spanish-speaking students is at an
all time high and is projected to keep growing. The chart below, from a recent
Pew Research Center report, illustrates the steady rise of Hispanic students
in public schools and colleges.

Looking specifically at college enrollment we see that not only is the number
of Hispanic students increasing but the number of white students is decreasing.
The following chart is quite telling in terms of the trends in enrollment
patterns in higher education.

As the Spanish-speaking population increases in the United States, not
everyone is pleased to see and hear Spanish being spoken on the radio or
television, being used on automated phone messages (“para continuar en Español,
oprima número dos”), or being taught in schools alongside English. Some may even
be turned off by the first paragraph of this blog. Such negative reactions are
not surprising in a country where only 6.3% of the population is bilingual
compared to 66% of the world's children that are raised as bi-lingual speakers
according to the World Watch
Institute).

Whatever one’s opinions of these demographic changes, the fact of the matter
is that the population of
the United States is not just getting bigger (and older) but it is also becoming
more diverse. The likelihood that you will hear Spanish, Chinese, Korean,
Russian, Arabic, Tagalog, Dutch, Italian, Greek, or any of the other multitude
of languages spoken in the United States will only continue to increase. As
sociologists, we should not only be aware of these changes but we should
recognize the effects they may have on social life, social institutions, and
social policies.

Así, dígame: ¿Cómo afectan estos cambios su vida?