Is the American public, marketers included, naïve and gullible when it comes to understanding the Latino consumer? If so, why? If not, why do there seem to be so many mistakes?
Gregory Rodriguez just published a book that goes even further. Its title is “Mongrels, Bastards, Orphans and Vagabonds,” a history of Mexican-American immigration. The main thesis is one of assimilation and acculturation (to a changed mainstream, to be sure), and that America itself is becoming so “mongrel” that eventually all racial, ethnic and cultural distinctions will be rendered meaningless. (I have reviewed the book for www.hispanictrending.net and for the February issue of Growth Strategies.) Rodriguez reinforces a point I have made many times over the years: English language adoption among Mexican-Americans is far more extensive than is commonly believed. Just because there are vast swaths of America where only Spanish is required to function does not mean that only Spanish is spoken among Spanish-speaking populations. How else, asks Rodriguez, could upwards of 75% of Mexican-Americans be employed in white-collar or skilled occupations?Rodriguez goes so far as to label the entire “Hispanic market” a contrivance, an “invention” of Spanish-language marketers such as Univision, who sought to convince mainstream corporations that Latinos would continue to speak Spanish no matter how many generations their families live in the United States. But that is not the case. True, Spanish is certainly not going to fade away in the regions of the country that serve as gateways to new immigrants. The sheer size and continuous nature of Hispanic immigration, the proximity of Latin America to the US, and the availability of Spanish options in media, business and government services guarantee the continued proliferation of Spanish usage in the US. But it’s not what the kids are doing: young Hispanics may be very proud of their heritage, but English is the language of that powerful assimilation machine known as American culture. Hence, the language of the future is English.According to a study conducted by researchers at the State University of New York (SUNY), English remains the language of choice among the children and grandchildren of Hispanic immigrants, despite continuing waves of migration from Latin America. In contrast to concerns from some analysts that English may be losing ground to Spanish in some parts of the United States, the study finds the majority of Hispanic Americans moving steadily toward English monolingualism. Among third-generation Hispanics, the fastest-growing segment of the US Latino population, 72% speak English exclusively.Further, the study finds that this trend has generally continued among Mexican-Americans, the country’s largest immigrant group, even during the immigration boom of the 1990s. Even for Hispanics in Los Angeles, a magnet for immigration from Latin America, the pattern of language shifts across generations remains similar to those among Hispanics nationally. The report suggests that many other researchers and analysts have underestimated the pressures of assimilation, and are missing its contemporary signs. (Hello, Samuel Huntington?)What’s behind this English preference trend? Although not generally understood or appreciated, Hispanic immigration to the US, as well as the share of the US Hispanic population that is foreign-born, both peaked years ago. Migration to the US will decrease even further after 2010, according to University of California professor Philip Martin, due to a drop in Mexico’s birthrate. Hence, the explosive growth of the US Hispanic population in the coming decades will be fueled more by natural increase (native births) than by immigration. This will speed the processes of assimilation, acculturation and English-proficiency.
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