Native languages in valley fade as immigrants' children embrace U.S. culture

These American kids are learning to speak Vietnamese, the language of their parents, which they do not know, at least well enough. More proof that English is the dominant language and all others are lost unless taught like in these classes. DP

IMMIGRANTS SEEKING TO PROTECT CULTURES

By Mike Swift, Mercury News

mercurynews.com: It's Sunday morning at Gunderson High in San Jose, and hundreds of Asian children and teenagers throng into language classes that even spill into the hallways.

They're learning English, right?

In fact, they're American kids who speak English with a Northern California accent who have come to the Van Lang Vietnamese Language & Culture School because their immigrant parents want them to learn Vietnamese. They are among a growing number of immigrant parents enrolling their children in Vietnamese, Hindi and Spanish classes, in an effort to preserve their culture against the all-powerful pull of English.

While some Americans fear the country is becoming a collection of ethnic tribes lacking a common language because immigrants aren't learning English, immigrants have a different perspective, looking at their own children. Many believe their kids are adopting English at such a rapid rate that American culture is erasing all foreign languages imported to its shores.

Statistics drive home that point, demonstrating the truth behind America's reputation among linguists as a "graveyard of languages."

Even given the 5 million resident immigrants who have arrived in California since 1990, a significantly higher share of children and teenagers in immigrant families speak English fluently now than two decades ago, a Mercury News analysis of Census Bureau data shows.
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