Hispanic American Diversity

Introduction
Hispanic or Latino Americans are a group of people made up of distinct characteristics. They are a group that is linked to a heritage of common language. Hispanics or Latinos are defined by the federal government "as a person of Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, South or Central American, or other Spanish culture or origin regardless of race" (United States Census, 2000).
The Hispanic population rose "from 22.4 million in 1990 to 35.3 million in 2000."   This was an increase of almost 60%. Of every five Hispanics residing in the United States, two were born abroad. As of 2000, Mexicans made up three-fifths of the United States' Hispanic population, totaling 20.6 million. Puerto Ricans were the second largest group, totaling 3.4 million. The third largest group of Hispanics residing in the United States was Cubans. Their total was 1.2 million. The number of Dominicans residing in the country was 799,768. According to the United States Census Bureau, Hispanics or Latinos will make up approximately one-third of this country's population by the year 2100. (U.S. Census, 2004).
Linguistics
All Hispanics do not speak Spanish at all times. Some of them do not even know the language. In 2000, a language other than English was spoken in 75% of Hispanic households. Ninety-nine percent of those households spoke Spanish. About two in five Hispanics spoke English "less than very well" (U.S. Census, 2004).
Figure 1
Language Spoken at Home and Ability to Speak English: Year 2000
Age 5 and older English at Home Non-English at Home Spoke Very Well Non-English at Home Spoke Less Than Very Well
Mexican 21.2 35.7 43.1
Puerto Rican 24.6 48.7 26.7
Cuban 13.7 40.4 45.9
Dominican 7.1 39.2 53.7
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Census 2000.
As of 2002, about 23% of the Mexican American's primary language was English. Twenty-six percent of them were bilingual, while 51% of Mexican American spoke Spanish as their primary language. Thirty-nine percent of Puerto Ricans spoke...