Spanish has a very large and present role in the United States, as it claims the status of second largest language in the nation. Not only does Spanish hold such a title in the United States, but the United States is also the second country with the largest Spanish speaking population in the world, second to Mexico, and this population of Spanish speakers is expected to continue growing. California is one of the states with the largest Spanish speaking populations and the Los Angeles county is home to the largest Latino population of the country. The LA county is the exact context for the makeup of Spanish speakers in this language profile. The LA county is made up of a multitude of cities, cities that claim residents from all over the world. …show more content…
The Los Angeles Unified School District prides itself in offering Spanish, and other languages, as a “foreign language” and as part of a dual language program. LAUSD has schools that offer dual language programs in English and Spanish, as well as other languages, that allow students to become immersed in both languages. According to the LAUSD website, most of the secondary schools offer Spanish as a subject, eight Pre-K schools offer dual language programs, and about eighty elementary/middle/high schools offer Two-Way Immersion programs, with Spanish and English being the languages of instruction. An example of one of these LAUSD schools is Franklin High School in 820 N. Avenue 54, Los Angeles, which offers an English and Spanish dual language program in which science and history are taught in Spanish and Spanish is also taught as a subject. This program is offered to sixth through eighth grade students who apply online through a website. This high school is just one example of the programs offered by schools in LAUSD interested in promoting academic achievements in both English and …show more content…
When one eats authentic tacos with onion, cilantro, and a spicy sauce, those tacos are more than likely made by a Mexican. Taco trucks and different taco restaurants make up a lot of the businesses in the LA County and Mexicans are highly represented in these businesses. Another business in which Mexicans are highly present are “panaderías” or bakeries that sell sweet bread that is usually consumed with champurrado. These bakeries are usually full of parents buying sweet bread early in the morning to enjoy as breakfast or as dessert and these shops are ever present and staffed by Mexicans making these
In the beginning, Burciaga provides a brief history when Taco Bell was established. First starting in Mexico City and then spreading throughout the United States, the chain sold “mild imitations of the real thing” (382). Many Mexican businesses and people protested against Taco Bell because unlike homemade tortillas made from hand, they used “prefabricated hard tortilla shells” (383) that tasted nothing like real Mexican tacos. Additionally, the restaurant also combines food and makes up names so that it appears different. From Enchiroto, a combination of a burrito and enchilada, to Cinnamon Crispas, known as bunuelos, Burciaga points out that “the Taco Menu can be a mystery if one is not familiar with the renamed food items” (383).
Hispanic families have always made time to go to the panaderia in order to buy conchas for not only their families, but the families of others. The appearance of the sweet breads in Mexico was heavily influenced by the French and Spaniards. They were the ones who introduced baked goods and various pastries to indigenous people and inspired them to create many different varieties of Pan Dulce. Thanks to them, Mexicans and people visiting this country can enjoy these sweet treats every day! In Mexico City, bakeries are more plentiful with people than gas stations and grocery stores. An element of daily life, they service customers for breakfast, a midday bite post-lunch coffee breaks, and pre-dinner snacks. Savory loaves of bread are found at these bakeries, but more common and more plentiful are the pan dulces. It's a category of sweetened breakfast pastry that includes, by some estimates, up to 2,000 unique
Hispanics comprise California’s largest minority group. They make up 37.6% of the total population (US Census, 2011). The term Hispanic defines a population of Spanish-speaking individuals from Cuba, Mexico, South America, Puerto Rico, and Spain.
Another struggle for identity with Latinos is their struggle with the Spanish and English languages. While some Latinos may speak Spanish in their homes, the language may not be conversationally used in their schools. Some Lat...
Language is an important value for the nationalistic identity of a nation. Hispanic culture is the way of life of people from Latin America and Spain, and their main identifying factor is the fact that they speak Spanish as their main language. Therefore, Hispanics are not necessarily Spaniards but other groups like Mexicans, Puerto Ricans and Cubans who speak Spanish are also part of this group (Shaw and Dennison 207). American culture on the other hand is mainly comprised of the people who speak English as their main dialect. Therefore, the Spaniards have Spanish as their native language while the Americans use Englis...
Because of internalized racism, Latinos and Hispanics distance themselves from the Spanish language to support the English only movement. They are embarrassed of their inherited language and rather choose English to complete assimilation. “Almost 40% of Latino/a respondents prefer English as their dominant language…” (Padilla 20). Where I currently live, I always see on the day to day basis Hispanics and Latinos that immigrated to the United States from other countries sounding “white.”
Hispanic America language has some strengths and weaknesses as observed in the article and this makes it one of the influential groups in the United States. It is also important noting that those who belong to this group originated from various parts of the world. The strengths in the pattern of communication make this language one of the most adorable languages in the world as many people feel respected whenever they talk to someone from this particular group. The weaknesses that can be identified only show how people tend to believe they are shy, but it is as a result of respect for
“Where Latinos live greatly depends on when they came to the United States and one their economic class (Rodolfo Acuna 6).” The Latino community is rapidly becoming the most populated minority group within the United States. Latino is a diverse term for Spanish-speaking population often referring to Hispanic or Latino origin. A vast amount of Americans have Hispanic backgrounds among the United States population. The varied Latino cultures planted inside the United States society, population, and government now play a big part in the day to day life of the nation. The United States Latino community is beneficial as it provides a rich cultural diversity, contribute to the nation’s education and form profound influences within the society.
Identify the population and provide a description and background of the population including potential cultural identifiers, stereotypes, and traditions. Latino population is one of the largest minority group in the United State. The name Latino is a term designed to encompass a variety of groups: Mexican Americans, Puerto Ricans, Cuban Americans, Dominican Americans, and increasingly, U.S residents of Central and South American descent. They are refer to Latino because they are Spanish-speaking nation and they share some common history of colonization, similarities in their connection and adaptation to the Catholic Church (Fong et al, 2012). Latino is the preferred term as one that is self-applied, as compared to Hispanic, which is a term
A large number of people in the Hispanic community whether Hispanics are not able to get the English literacy skills that they need not because they want to keep born in Latin America or the United States, speak Spanish primarily. This is basically because in present day time, Hispanics are more likely to pass Spanish to their kids now than they have done in the past. (Ortiz, P.149) This is seen as a social problem, especially because of the fact that there is an increasing demand that English should only be taught in public school and it should also be spoken within the Spanish community. Even though Hispanics do speak a lot of Spanish most of the time, they still do learn English also, especially the young. But, because of the large flow of immigrants, the use of Spanish is used more often because they are constantly encountering immigrants who speak no English. (Ortiz, P. 150) Before hand there has been said to have been lower achievements when Hispanics make frequent use of the Spanish la...
The Hispanic community represents many nationalities and ethnicities, including Mexicans, Cubans, Puerto Ricans, 15 Central and South American countries, Spain, and the Dominican Republic (Cattan, 1993). Hispanic group are well known in the workforce, politics, education, social economic and religion. The Spanish culture influences a variety of areas such as music, food, language. Most languages are rooted in Latin. It is always good to learn about other cultures if we expect the same consideration when we visit other countries. Differences are what make life interesting. Majority of the United States is built on immigration, which has made this country the most diverse. And the Hispanic group contributes to that diversity.
population. Among the Hispanic population there are various subgroups. (figure 1.1) Current projections suggest that, “the Hispanic populous will almost double by 2060 representing 31% of the population” (CDC, 2015). It is typical for these subgroups to share the same traditions, beliefs, and share one common language, Spanish.
Jeffrey Pilcher declares that Mexicans are a people of corn, that “despite centuries of efforts to change them, Mexicans remain a people of corn” (Pilcher, 6). The native and indigenous people of corn formed identity as a society. They made tortillas with corn, and gradually began to add different kinds of meats, vegetables, and spices. Every society creates for themselves a unique set of cuisine to feed and please others. But people’s needs constantly change and the diet that is established for each society is divided through class. Besides this being a harsh reality, this is problematic because of the disparity between the rich and the poor. But even though this was the case, Mexico’s food culture was able to preserve and refine a lot of its cuisine despite evolution and struggles to maintain original forms. Thus, it can be said that the history of food in Mexico is one that is profoundly and intimately tied to the country’s developing national
Despite having to battle discrimination and poor neighborhoods, second and third generation Mexican-Americans have made a great strife to overcome large obstacles. Mexican-Americans are finally gaining representation in city government representing the 9.6 million Mexican residents of Los Angeles. White politicians can no longer ignore Mexicans in Los Angeles, as former mayor Richard Riordan saw in the elections of 1997, in which his re-election was largely in part to the high turnout of Mexican voters in his favor. Although Capitalism still exists in the greater Los Angeles, its influence is not as great as it was fifty years ago. Los Angeles continues to serve as the breeding grounds for new cultures, ideologies, and alternative lifestyles. The pursuit of the American Dream becomes a reality for most immigrants in LA. LA is a great place to live, party, and be from. I knew little about the history of Los Angeles prior to this course, but now I am well prepared to answer the question of, “What makes Los Angeles, Los Angeles?”
Spanish and English may both be widely spoken languages, however English is becoming more and more prevalent as a second language. For this project I interviewed an acquaintance who speaks Spanish as a first language and English as a second language. Spanish and English are similar in aspects such as grammar (in that they are both SVO—subject, verb, object—languages) and vocabulary (since both were influenced by Latin) (Shoebottom n.d.), however they are also quite different, especially in their phonology. These differences are what made learning it as a second language a little more difficult for this interviewee.