Actually, I don't have a side in this. Remember, I'm not allowed to have a side. I'm white so I don't count.
ignored for snark and inaccuracy
Just because I have a real fear that I will be 80 years old living in a neighborhood where I'm the only one who speaks English and that is the only language I speak, just means that I have to learn to speak Spanish - right, or move to someplace other than my home in hopes of finding other English speaking persons? It is intolerant and racist and wrong, etc., for me to expect other persons living in the United States to speak English.
This is a very real fear shared by many people who see their neighborhoods become integrated by other nationalities. You can substitute whatever town and whatever immigrant/racial group you want. At its core it's called xenophobia, fear of other races. There are real concerns in play, for example the property values of a given neighborhood can drop if the influx of new residents is poor, criminal element, etc. However this can happen regardless of race. Luck of the draw, really, which neighborhoods thrive and which decline. My own current town has a number of fantastic neighborhoods that were once slums, and vice versa. The denominator is business and community, not race.
I'm telling you what is a fact in my neighborhood. The school roll of the little school at the end of my street tells the tale. Over the last 20 years the student diversity has swapped one end of the spectrum for the other - from predominately white with few Hispanics and some blacks to predominately Hispanic with few whites and some blacks.
But you have yet to describe how this change has directly negatively affected you in any place other than your emotions. No one has jailed or ticketed you for speaking English, no one has fired you or committed a crime against you based on your language choice so far as you've shared; no one has antagonized you in any way except the one anecdote about a woman in a store who played music you don't like and asked you "how are you today?" in another language. Oh, the indignity of being well-wished and not knowing it.
What would be an interesting factor... I'm curious to know on what information you based your statements. Was it from something you read, were taught in school, or from first hand experience?
edited for brevity. To answer your question re: generational language shift. It is a statistical fact based on decades of research and observation from previous waves of immigration the world over. Overwhelmingly the standard pattern of
language assimilation follows the 'three generation' rule: 1st generation immigrants rarely if ever pick up the new language; second generation, or first native born, learn the new language but prefer to speak the old mother tongue at home; the third generation from immigrant roots almost entirely speaks the new language and frequently doesn't retain a working knowledge of the old.
You can find this information in hundreds of studies of worldwide linguistic shifts. I learned it in college linguistics but it's pervasive. Look up "language shift" "third generation assimilation" or any variation of related terms and you'll find all you need. Here's a very good business oriented
article on the subject of language assimilation and the needs of business, and specifically compares modern immigration patterns (in the era of bilingual ATM's) to previous waves.
And in answer to your question of where I learned it: college taught me the terminology, but I have lived in literally dozens of differing communities in my lifetime. I like to think my life experience as far and away richer and more diverse than the average "born-and-raised-here" person, not by design but by simple exposure to the new and different. So does my information and knowledge come from what I read? Yes. Education? Yes. Life experience? Yes.
Any other questions?
