Immigrants' kids grow up in dual-language world

Raising these children to be fluent in 2 languages will give them many benefits later in life. They will often also study a third language when they are in high school. DP

BY HURST LAVIANA AND BRENT D. WISTROM, The Wichita Eagle

Kansas.com: When smiley 10-year-old Lourdes Martinez runs over to her mom and talks, she does it in Spanish.

But when she sits down on a sunbathed porch snuggling a little white poodle next to her dad, it's all English.

Dad wouldn't have it any other way.

"Being able to speak Spanish and English, it will open up doors for you," 38-year-old Guillermo Martinez said in English. "It's very important."

And it's increasingly common as immigrant parents with varied levels of English skills enter Kansas and their kids grow up in a dual-language world.

More than 10 percent of Kansas residents speak a language other than English at home, Census figures released this week show. Nationally, it's nearly 20 percent.

Although the numbers are growing, Martinez, who supervises the production department at a paint company, sometimes feels isolated. He said everyone he works with speaks only English -- and he feels pressure to speak it, too.
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