The Problem with Small Samples
The story “English Bypassed in L.A.” was brought to my attention this morning by L.A. Observed. It begins:
Peruvian immigrant Miguel Aliaga always knew that coming to Los Angeles would mean a long struggle mastering a new language. He just never figured that language would be Korean.
The piece admits that it has no hard numbers on how many immigrants are skipping English. I’ll bet it’s far fewer than the number of immigrants who, like my parents 40 years ago, aren’t teaching their children the language from their home country but instead are pushing English to accelerate acculturation. Yet I’m fearful that xenophobes will use the fact that examples exist of immigrants skipping English in favor of other immigrant languages to further the xenophobic political agenda. For an analogue, think Reagan’s “Welfare Queen.”
That said, I was happy to read of the cultural exchange happening here in LA between an Asian community and a Latino community. Those exchanges writ large — how the various Latino and Asian communities compete, cooperate and assimilate — will go a long way towards defining the California of tomorrow.
[10/24 update:] As expected, a couple of conservative commentators (Latino Pundit and Latino Issues) are making more of the Daily News story than it deserves. Interestingly enough, both blogs have Latino authors!
