Pew: Most U.S. Latinos speak Spanish, and those who don’t are shamed by their own

Soon after law school, Wendy Ramirez found herself teaching Spanish part-time to mostly white professionals while based in Washington, D.C. As someone who felt “the shame” for not speaking “professional Spanish,” Ramirez gained more confidence in the language as she worked on immigration reform as a legislative assistant for then-Rep. Xavier Becerra and as she oversaw elections in Mexico, El Salvador and Guatemala for the National Democratic Institute. Mark Hugo Lopez, director of race and ethnicity research at the Pew Research Center, points to this “tension that exists among Latinos about the Spanish language.” On one hand, Pew found that 85% of all Latinos — including foreign and U.S.-born — say it’s important for future generations of Latinos in the U.S. to speak Spanish. It found immigrant Latinos are more likely than U.S.-born Latinos to say it’s important that future generations of U.S. Latinos speak Spanish. Most U.S. Latinos speak Spanish, with 75% saying they can carry on a conversation in Spanish pretty well or very well, according to Pew. According to Pew, 40% of U.S. Latinos say they often hear family and friends make jokes or comments about other Latinos who can’t speak Spanish.