Almost all Latino adults born in the United States to immigrant parents are fluent in English, but among their parents, just fewer than 1 in 4 say they are skilled English speakers, according to a report released Thursday by the Pew Hispanic Center in Washington, D.C.
"The ability to speak English very well and the amount of English used increase sharply from one generation to another among Hispanics," said one of the report's authors, D'Vera Cohn. "The first generation speaks mainly Spanish and doesn't speak English very well. The second generation speaks English very well but holds onto its Spanish. And by the third generation and beyond, English is universal and pervasive, and Spanish fades into the background."
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