El Paso: 74% speak Spanish at home

September 23, 2008
By Gustavo Reveles Acosta

Nearly three quarters of the 727,070 El Pasoans last year said buenas noches when they went to sleep and buenos días when they woke up, according to new information released Tuesday by the U.S. Census Bureau.

The census' American Community Survey figures for 2007 indicate that 74 percent of all residents in the El Paso metropolitan area spoke Spanish at home, even if they are fluent in English.

The numbers also say that one out of every five people living in the states of Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California use mainly Spanish, and not English, at home.

"Spanish was my first language and it's the language that my parents speak, so I just use it when I'm there. I don't even think about it," said Mariana Solis, a registered nurse who grew up in the Lower Valley. "And although I speak English, I sometimes feel more comfortable speaking Spanish. It's like going back home."

The census indicates that 24 percent of the El Paso population speaks English only, and that fewer than 2,000 people said they speak a language other than English or Spanish at home.

Dennis Bixler-Márquez, a University of Texas at El Paso professor of multicultural education and the director of the Chicana/o Studies Program there, said he was not surprised to hear the numbers released by the census.

"Border communities like El Paso, by virtue of their proximity to the home land, will continue to have tremendous linguistic renewal," he said. "People here, even those who have been in the country various generations, will retain their language much more than the Hispanic populations formed in the interior of the United States."

Bixler-Márquez said the steady flow of new immigrants into the U.S. Southwest could also be responsible for the common use of Spanish and the widespread distribution of Spanish-language media, music, literature and even signage in the region.

"When you have an increase in immigration, like we have seen in El Paso for decades, you will see an increase in the Spanish-speaking communities and the institutions that support them," he said.

The wide use of Spanish by people of El Paso has forced local governments, agencies and stores to publish most local notices in English and Spanish.

Aracely Lazcano, the spokeswoman for the county of El Paso, said it makes sense for her to write news releases and public notices in both languages.

"Our goal is for our message to reach the intended audience as quickly as possible," she said. "If we were to send out notices in English only, the message will eventually get to Spanish-speaking families but it will take some time."

Eastsider Bonnie Ortiz, 64, said she used to speak Spanish at home when she was a girl, but that the custom was lost with her children and grandchildren, who speak "very little Spanish."

"I only spoke English to my children and they only speak English to their children. It's sad, but the Spanish was lost in my family," she said. "I think it's just part of living in America. You lose your ties to Mexico."

Bixler-Márquez said only a slowing trend in immigration would stop the strong influence Spanish has over El Paso and the rest of the Southwest.

"But in the foreseeable future, I don't see that happening. Our trends don't seem to show any slowdown on immigration."

Source: El Paso Times