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Lupe Melgarejo, client services coordinator for the Nevada Association of Latin Americans, right, helps Celia Pena, 71, an immigrant from the Dominican Republic, translate documents Tuesday. Melgarejo says the results of a new census survey don't convey the real need for adult bilingual programs and English classes. Photo by K.M. Cannon. Click above for enlarged version. Graphic by Mike Johnson.

Saturday, August 11, 2001
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

Count of English-speaking immigrants challenged

Census results ignore poor fluency among adults, advocates say

New figures released by the U.S. Census Bureau indicate most Nevadans who speak a foreign language at home also speak English.

But immigrant advocates contend the numbers don't reveal the gap in fluency between adults and children, and they fail to show the state's need for adult bilingual services.

The U.S. Census Bureau this week released the results of an experimental sample survey that shows roughly 22 percent of Nevadans speak a language other than English at home. The survey shows 70 percent of Spanish-speaking, working adults and 81 percent of those older than 65 say they speak English well or very well. About 19 percent of Nevada children speak Spanish at home, and of those, about 85 percent said they speak English well or very well.

Those statistics don't reflect a fluency problem that Celia Pena, 71, experiences every day.

Pena came to the United States from the Dominican Republic with her children in the early 1960s. Her children and her grandchildren all speak English and Spanish very well, Pena said, but she still has only a limited grasp of English.

Pena said that when she arrived in New York, she immediately found a job at a factory, where she seldom had to use English.

"For 20 years, I worked in places where I didn't have to speak English," she said in Spanish. "I know enough for shopping, and I know the basics I had to learn to do my job: colors, directions, numbers. I worked day and night while my children went to school, and they have always helped me."

Pena said she tried to learn English when she first arrived, but she had trouble concentrating in night classes after long hours at the factory.

"As you get older it's just harder to grasp," said Pena, who moved to Las Vegas last year.

Immigrant service organizations see their share of struggles.

"I see a lot of people who come in for translating services for almost any kind of document, or they need help with interpreters, especially for things like calling the doctor," said Lupe Melgarejo, client services coordinator for the Nevada Association of Latin Americans. She estimated that less than 50 percent of Spanish-speaking adults in the state are fluent in English. She said many people might have exaggerated their ability to speak English when answering the survey.

Chip Alexander, assistant chief for survey design for the U.S. Census Bureau, said the results are based on the "personal judgment" of participants who responded to forms they received in the mail or to interviewers, some of whom were Spanish speakers.

Clark County Commission Chairman Dario Herrera said he doesn't think the survey overestimates English fluency by much, but he added that an increase in fluency would not detract from the county's efforts to help limited English speakers access county services and information.

"I don't think the (census) numbers are enough to shift the county away from those efforts," he said.

Because children generally have an easier time learning new languages, the census estimate for bilingual children is probably accurate, said Diana Goff, director of Head Start at the Clark County Economic Opportunity Board. Children who join her program knowing little to no English usually are fluent by the time they leave for kindergarten, she said.

Head Start is a federal preschool program for low-income families that focuses on preparing children ages 3 to 5 for school. Goff said the program is not intended to "wipe out" the children's primary language, but to get them fluent enough in English to do well in school.

"It's not unusual for us to have 4-year-olds translating for their parents," she said.

Andres Ramirez, a member of the Reynaldo L. Martinez Institute of Leadership and Research, said the census estimate for bilingual children proves English as a Second Language classes and bilingual education have been successful.

"I think those numbers show Hispanic children can know their own language and learn English well, which will serve for their economic advancement," Ramirez said. "It emphasizes English-only initiatives are not necessary."

Mauro Mujica, chief executive officer of the Washington-based U.S. English Foundation, said he believes English as a Second Language programs have done the most to help children learn the language and assimilate.

"But frankly, adults need it more (than children) because they are the wage earners," he said. "We need to teach English to immigrants so they assimilate quickly and can make a decent living. That's why most of them come to this country, not for the climate or the water quality."

The census survey also shows most Asians and Pacific Islanders in Nevada who speak a language other than English at home speak English well, though a wide margin of exists because they represent such a small percentage of the population, Alexander said.

About 88 percent of working-age Asians or Pacific Islanders and 60 percent of those older than 65 said they speak English well or very well. But Chinese community leaders say those numbers also appear inflated.

Frank Tsou, president of the Las Vegas Chinese Cultural Foundation, said the Chinese population in Nevada has been growing "by leaps and bounds" during the past 10 years, but that many of the most recent immigrants to the state probably know little to no English.

"Quite a bit of Asian immigrants come here because they know they can find work in the casino and hotel industry where they don't have to speak a lot of English to get a job," Tsou said. He added that the percentages of Asians who speak English fluently might be lower than those of Spanish speakers.

"I'm surprised to see the Asians have a higher percent than Hispanics because for Asians it's tougher to learn the language," Tsou said. "They have to learn new sounds and a new alphabet."

Anthony Lu, publisher of the Southern Nevada Chinese Weekly, said that despite the recent flood of Chinese immigrants, the census survey might reflect people who indicated they are Chinese even though they are from Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia or the Philippines, where English is common.