Saturday, February 22, 2003
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

State rates high in Spanish use

Census Bureau language survey shows heavy impact of Hispanic population

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Nevada se habla Español.

The Silver State ranks sixth nationally in its share of households with Spanish speakers, the Census Bureau announced Friday. With Spanish used in 16 percent of homes in the state, Nevada trailed only Texas, New Mexico, California, Arizona and Florida, according to the bureau's American Community Survey.

The survey results highlight the emergence of Nevada's metropolitan areas as destinations for Hispanic immigrants who in past decades would have settled in heavily Latino Los Angeles or Miami, observers said. It also underscores the ways Hispanic immigration continues to transform Nevada's institutions.

State agencies, school districts, marketers and media outlets all have become increasingly bilingual in response to the Hispanic influx. The Spanish language has spread to the state driver's handbook to election ballots to radio and television stations.

"You can live a life here in Spanish without being too inconvenienced," University of Nevada, Las Vegas history professor Hal Rothman said. "It's a demographic transformation of gargantuan proportions, and it has had an impact on every dimension of the community."

Otto Merida, executive director of the Latin Chamber of Commerce, has witnessed the transformation since he arrived in Las Vegas in 1974.

He recalls that the only Spanish he heard on the radio in the early 1970s was a two-hour program airing once a week. There are now six Spanish-language radio stations and two Spanish-language television stations broadcasting in Southern Nevada.

"Most of this increase has been in the last 10 years," he said. "Some of them (Spanish broadcasts) beat English programs in their time slots."

Fran Montes, president of Hispanics in Politics, said the increase in Spanish speakers in Nevada and their financial clout has led banks, homebuilders, attorneys and other businesses to begin marketing to them in their language.

"What drives change is the bottom line," she said. "They know there's a dollar there to target."

In 2000, about 320,000 Hispanics lived in Southern Nevada -- though illegal immigrants could push the number much higher, observers said -- compared with 80,000 a decade before. Hispanics now make up about 25 percent of the region's population, up from 11 percent in 1990.

"As the number grows, so does their appeal to advertisers," said Joe Vann, a native of Mexico City who heads Grupo Hall Communicaciones, a Hispanic advertising agency. "There could be as many as 500,000 Hispanics in Las Vegas. How could you not target them?"

While there has been a boom in Spanish-language advertising to the Hispanic consumer, some in the Hispanic community believe government agencies have been too slow in adapting to the growing Spanish-speaking population.

The state hadn't produced a Spanish driver's handbook since the early 1990s. Several months ago, a revised version was released and is now in short supply.

Last year was the first time Clark County printed an election ballot and voting guide in Spanish.

"Nevada as a whole, the city and county and school district, have been very slow at realizing what's going on," Merida said. "People have to realize you have to cater to your customers and your clients for the state to succeed."

The census survey is the agency's attempt at documenting annually the detailed demographic data traditionally collected only during the decennial census. The data is based on a sampling of 3 million households nationwide.

The survey asked respondents whether they sometimes or always spoke a language other than English in the home and to report the language. Census officials noted that most who reported speaking a language other than English at home also speak English.

Vann said the demand for Spanish media has been and will continue to be from Las Vegans who speak English well but who wish to maintain a connection to their roots.

While it might be comforting for them to hear their native tongue, Merida said he believes learning English is a necessity for immigrants to succeed.

"I want to make it clear: Anybody who comes to this country, to reach their full potential, he or she should eventually speak English," he said.