Keeping Spanish Alive

by Lauren Valadez

For most Latinos, Spanish is the language most spoken at home. Since I grew up hearing Spanish, I personally find it to be the language of celebration, love, and legacy. Unfortunately, though, while being in Central New York and away from the vibrant Latino culture in Los Angeles, I find myself speaking Spanish less and less. Although it seems like a personal problem, this is an issue that happens to many young adults, threatening the preservation of Spanish within the United States.

This problem doesn’t only affect young generations being influenced by social media and television; it happens to many Latinos everywhere. There is pressure to assimilate to the American lifestyle and speak English, causing Spanish to be spoken less and less. Adults understand that their children will have comfortable lives in the United States speaking English and will sometimes refuse to pass down Spanish to them. This decision, although good intentioned, is detrimental to Latino heritage and culture.

It is understood that older generations hold the knowledge of our culture and language is what serves as a bridge to understand them and continue to pass down their wisdom. From recipes to family stories to cultural traditions, all of these could be lost if Spanish is no longer transferred to younger generations. With this happening all over the country, our beautiful Latino culture could diminish within the United States.

So how can we prevent this from happening? We simply need to implement more Spanish within our lives. As easy and obvious as it sounds, it is of course harder and harder to do this with our busy lives. We must take time to embrace our culture more deeply as it will help greatly. Speaking more Spanish, learning those recipes and attending all the family gatherings is what will uphold our culture. Most importantly, teaching young children Spanish will be what makes the language last, as it is very simple to learn anything at a young age. At the end of the day, calling your family on the phone more often could be what makes all the difference.

Photo of Women learning Spanish grammar by Leeloo The First and photo of Card in Spanish with flowers by Damaris.g from pexels.com

Lauren Valadez has joined this community as a columnist. She is originally from El Monte, California, but she recently moved to Central New York to attend Syracuse University. She is currently a sophomore studying anthropology.