Spanish in the United States

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Spanish language in the USA

The Spanish language is in the United States after English , the second most common language. The number of speakers is officially more than 45 million. The United States has the second largest Spanish-speaking population in the world, after Mexico, and ahead of Colombia and Spain , not including illegal immigrants.

In what is now the United States, the Spanish language has existed since the 16th and 17th centuries. The main reason for this was the Spanish colonization of North America . The Spanish explorers discovered a large part of the later states, so that influences of the Spanish language were left across the continent. In the first half of the 19th century, western states such as California were incorporated into the Union. With the acquisition of Puerto Rico in 1898, the position of the Spanish language was further strengthened. Migration from Central American countries such as Mexico , Cuba and El Salvador has had a similar effect to this day .

overview

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Spanish language in Arizona
State Spanish speaking population Percent of the population
Puerto Rico 3,900,128 95.21%
New Mexico 823.352 43.27%
California 12,442,626 34.72%
Texas 7,781,211 34.63%
Arizona 1,608,698 28.03%
Nevada 445,622 19.27%
Florida 3,304,832 19.01%
new York 3,076,697 15.96%
New Jersey 1,134,033 13.89%
Illinois 1,516,560 12.70%
Colorado 545.112 12.35%
Rhode Island 100.227 9.96%
Utah 216,327 9.40%
Connecticut 308,863 9.35%
Oregon 293,840 8.47%
District of Columbia 45.023 8.24%
Idaho 103.686 7.66%
Washington 431.021 7.20%
Georgia 610.402 7.04%
Massachusetts 411.192 6.80%
Kansas 169.376 6.59%
Delaware 51,762 6.50%
North Carolina 532,553 6.45%
Nebraska 98.211 5.99%
Virginia 412,416 5.78%
Maryland 298.072 5.68%
Oklahoma 173,552 5.22%
Arkansas 116,396 4.45%
Indiana 254.219 4.32%
Wisconsin 217,550 4.18%
Wyoming 19,830 4.12%
Pennsylvania 436.254 3.72%
South carolina 148,345 3.68%
Alaska 22,649 3.64%
Minnesota 171,042 3.55%
Iowa 97,876 3.51%
Michigan 292.996 3.10%
Tennessee 171,646 3.04%
Louisiana 106,872 2.68%
Alabama 107,806 2.50%
Missouri 129,329 2.37%
Ohio 230,467 2.15%
New Hampshire 26,607 2.14%
Kentucky 80,450 2.05%
South Dakota 14,403 1.98%
Mississippi 46,561 1.72%
Montana 13,458 1.51%
Hawaii 17,442 1.50%
North Dakota 8,853 1.48%
West Virginia 18,207 1.06%
Vermont 5,950 1.01%
Maine 12,576 1.00%

position

After English, which has a dominant position in many areas of social life, Spanish is the second most widely used language in the USA. Some states, including New Mexico, offer official documents in two languages.

Around 60 million people in households speak a language other than English. Almost two thirds of them speak Spanish in their private lives. Between 1980 and 2010, the number of people who speak Spanish at home more than tripled. In 1980, only about 11 million people spoke Spanish in households. This number has only increased slightly since 2005.

Florida

The Spanish-speaking population of Florida is predominantly of Cuban descent. The majority of them left Cuba during and after the revolution . Also, there are so many Latinos of Colombian descent in Florida that Miami is already being referred to as the second largest Colombian city.

Southwest USA

See also: New Mexico Spanish

Spanish speakers of Mexican descent are primarily found in the southwestern United States .

Spanish is the language of use in New Mexico alongside English (no language is official in many states). In addition, some states such as New Mexico , California, and Texas have Spanish-language forms, notices, and signs.

A new form of language, the " Spanglish ", has emerged here (from Spanish + English). In states like Arizona, many Spanish words appear in the everyday vocabulary of spoken English.

Northeast USA

Mostly Puerto Ricans

Louisiana

In today's US state of Louisiana , a Spanish dialect is spoken in four originally isolated towns on the Mississippi, which is related to the dialect of the Canary Islands . The people of these linguistic islands call themselves Isleños and immigrated to this region in the 18th century .

Geographical names

The states of California , Arizona , Texas , New Mexico , Colorado , Nevada and Utah in the southwest of the USA, as well as Florida have been settled by Spanish colonialists since the 16th century and after Mexico gained independence in 1810 some of the states still belonged to the middle 19th century to Mexico . That is why many cities, mountains, roads and rivers in these states have (sometimes “speaking”) Spanish names, toponyms . The numerous place names that go back to religious names are striking. They stem from the many missionaries among the first settlers and the generally strong Catholic faith of the Spaniards.

In addition, typical place names based on landscape features can also be found:

Rivers: Rio Grande ( Great River ), Colorado River ( Colored River )

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ US Hispanic Population Surpasses 45 Million ( Memento of the original from May 6, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , United States Census Bureau May 1, 2008 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.census.gov
  2. ↑ Language Use in the United States: 2011 , United States Census Bureau from August 2013