DEMOGRAPHICS

In 2004 new statistics : 40,425,000 Hispanics in the US
As of 1999, approximately 12% of the United States population was of Hispanic origin (32 million people.) Of these 32 million people of Hispanic origin, 65% were of Mexican origin, 14% from Central and South America, 10% Puerto Rican, and 4% Cuban. (Note: These totals do not include persons living in Puerto Rico, an American territory). The latest government figures can be obtained from the U.S. Census website; WEBSITE

According to the 1990 U.S. Census, Hispanics are the fastest growing minority group in the United States. Several factors have contributed to the tremendous increase in the Hispanic population since 1970, among them a higher birth rate than the rest of the population and substantial immigration from Mexico, Central America, the Caribbean, and South America. The Mexican population itself doubled between 1970 and 1980 and nearly doubled again by 1990. Both the Cuban and Puerto Rican populations grew at a rate four times as fast as the nation. Other Hispanic populations grew dramatically between 1980 and 1990 partly as a result of the large influx of Central and South American during this period. Although there has been a large influx of Hispanics into the United States, the majority of individuals of Hispanics descent living in the United States are native born - 60% of Hispanics are native born Americans.

Geographic National Distribution
The vast majority (77%) of the Hispanic population resides in the South (33%) and West (44%). Hispanics are concentrated in a small number of states:
California-( 34.4%)
Texas-(19.4%)
New York-(9.9%)
Florida-(7.0%)
Illinois-(4.0%)
New Jersey (3.3%)
Arizona (3.1%)
New Mexico (2.6%)

For parents and teachers of deaf and hard of hearing children who speak Spanish, there are Spanish-language resources available to cover every spectrum of deafness.

General Deafness Information

The National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders has a Spanish language section that has translations of NIDCD publications on hearing loss. offers Mi Nombre Es Lupita Y Tengo Un Hijo Sordo, a series of six booklets that explain the basics of hearing loss.

Deafblindness Information

The National Information Clearinghouse on Children Who Are Deaf-Blind's DB-Link website has several downloadable fact sheets in Spanish. Available topics include an overview of deafblindness, communication, and literacy.

Parenting

Parenting Books
Butte Publications has a book that translates into Spanish the first five chapters of a book on parenting deaf and hard of hearing children. This book is El Jardin Silencioso.

Parenting Videos
Some Spanish-speaking parents may have difficulty understanding their deaf children's American Sign Language and English. The Signing Fiesta series of videos helps these parents develop basic vocabularies for communication, literacy skills, and daily living communication skills. One of these has the theme "A Visit to the Audiologist."

Parenting Websites
Some websites on parenting deaf and hard of hearing children offer Spanish-language versions of their sites. One such site is http://www.RaisingDeafKids.org.

Teachers

Butte Publications has "Mike and Sherry Visit the Schools" in Spanish, a resource with puppet scripts, songs, and games for easing the acceptance of deaf and hard of hearing students in the classroom.

Cochlear Implants

KidsWorldDeafNet from Gallaudet University has an extensive site, "Implantes Cocleares."

Hearing Aids

For information about hearing aids in Spanish, refer to the NICD publication Audifonos.

Hearing Dogs

Butte Publications has "Cajun's Song," a bilingual storybook about a hearing dog.

Speech and Language Development

The John Tracy Clinic in Los Angeles has a Spanish language version of its website. The clinic has years of experience in working with Spanish speaking families internationally.

Health

Butte Publications has three downloadable Spanish language versions of its HiP on Health and Safety student booklets on health and safety. Also available in Spanish are teaching guides. These booklets educate on topics such as HIV/AIDS.

Sign Language

Sign language dictionaries of American Sign Language (not Spanish sign language) have been translated into Spanish. One such dictionary is the Diccionario Visual Plus Picture Plus Dictionary from Butte Publications. This book has only text and no illustratons.(At the time this article was written, the book was not yet out in print). Another resource is a Spanish language version of a sign language video series from Harris Communications, the Family Sign Language Video Series (item number VT1163 or DVD036).

Other Resources

The Florida Department of Health's Children's Medical Services unit has an Early Hearing Detection & Intervention Program page that has downloadable parenting videos and transcripts, and printable brochures.

By the middle of the next century the nation's Hispanic population is expected to reach 96.5 million (24.5 percent of the nation's total population). By 2005 it is projected that Hispanics will surpass non-Hispanic African Americans to become the nation's largest minority group. Looking at children under 18, Hispanics already surpass non-Hispanic African-Americans. On July 1, 1998, there were 10.5 million Hispanic children in the United States, outnumbering non-Hispanic African American children by 35,000.


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Spanish is spoken by more than 400 million people around the world, and it is the primary language of 332 million people

Spanish Language Miscellaneous Facts

Originally branching off from Latin, the Spanish language is now spoken by over 437 million people in the world as a second or official language in over 29 countries. It is most widely spoken in South America, Latin America, North America and Europe, primarily Spain. In fact, Spanish is the third most commonly spoken language in the world after English and Chinese. In the United States alone, about 40 million people speak Spanish as their mother tongue and the United States is actually home to the fifth largest Hispanic population in the world.

The Spanish language is also considered to be one of the easiest languages to learn because it is phonetically spoken. Although the Spanish language changes in pronunciation and vocabulary from country to country, almost all Spanish-speaking people readily understand the original form of Spanish. Concerning the Internet, the Spanish speaking population accounts for about 81.7 million Internet users (an estimated 7.5% of all worldwide internet users), making it the fourth highest in the Internet community after English, Japanese and Chinese.

The Spanish language is extremely present in world affairs as one of the official languages of the European Union, the United Nations and many other international firms and organizations. Due to a quickly mounting birth rate in Spanish-speaking countries, it is possible that Spanish-speakers may exceed English-speakers in the Americas in the future. From a business perspective, it is essential to tap into the Spanish-speaking market to have a presence internationally.