By: Daniel Nardini
In 1910, German was the most commonly used language in the United States after English. At the time it made perfect sense. German immigrants made up the largest single group of immigrants to the United State for close to 200 years at the time. There were many German communities with their own churches, their own schools, and their own businesses. This would change in the next 30 years. By 1940, the number of ethnic German communities had declined sharply. There were may be only one-third as many German churches, schools or businesses that there were a generation before that.
Why this sudden decline? Part of the reason lies in the extreme anti-German sentiment during World War I when the United States fought against Germany and the Central Powers. But even this did not last particularly long. A good part of it was that most of the German American community had become native born. By the second and third generation Americans of German descent largely no longer spoke German, no longer went to solely German schools or churches or even became a part of their family businesses. They had become “Americanized” to the point that they no longer saw themselves as German or German American. Also, German immigration, like immigration in general at the time, was largely cut off with the U.S. immigration quota system from 1924 until 1965.
Fast forward over 100 years, and we see a new picture. The most commonly used language after English is Spanish. It has been so for 50 years now, and shall remain so for the near future. This is largely because 65 percent of all Latino immigrants and their native born are Mexican in origin. Mexico is in fact the most populous speaking Spanish language country. Without Mexico, Spanish would not be as widespread in the United States today. Could this change in the next 50 to 100 years? Most certainly. The next most commonly used language after English may be Chinese, Hindi, or Arabic in 50 to 100 years.
Since the second largest number of immigrants in terms of groups and sheer numbers come from Asia, Chinese or Hindi or Arabic may indeed become the most commonly used language in the United States instead of Spanish. Already Chinese is the third most commonly used language in the United States after English and Spanish. But I do not believe that Spanish will entirely disappear like German did. First, Mexico and the countries of Central America are right next door to the United States. Unlike Germans, who most certainly could never go back to Germany, Mexicans and the peoples of Central America can go back and forth by airplane. We have connections to Mexico and Central America we never had with Germany. This also means that even if Spanish were to die off in the second or third generation of a number of Latino families it will not die out altogether.
We must also remember that Mexicans, Hondurans, Salvadorans, Guatemalans, and Nicaraguans are not the only immigrant groups coming to the United States. Many other peoples from South America and the Caribbean also immigrate to America. And the most commonly used language for them is Spanish. This is in marked contrast to just about all other immigrant groups from Europe or Asia where the language of their ancestry will usually die out after the third generation. Since there are so many different immigrant groups from Latin America using Spanish then the Spanish language will remain strong. Then we must remember the Puerto Ricans, who are U.S. citizens and who have preserved Spanish even after being under U.S. rule for over 100 years.
Whatever role the Spanish language will play in over the next 50 to 100 years, it will most certainly not be eradicated. Therefore we can be cautiously optimistic that the Spanish language will still be around for awhile.
