Most U.S.-born Latinos fluent in English: study

PHOENIX (Reuters) - Nearly nine out of 10 Hispanic adults born in the United States are fluent in English, while less than a quarter of their immigrant parents say they are skilled English speakers, according to a study published on Thursday.

The report by the Pew Hispanic Center found that 23 percent of Latino immigrants surveyed said they could speak English very well, while 88 percent of their U.S.-born adult children said they were fluent.

The study, conducted among 14,000 Latino adults over a four-year period, found that fluency in English rose to 94 percent in subsequent generations.

"As fluency in English increases across generations, so, too, does the regular use of English by Hispanics, both at home and at work," the study said.

"For most immigrants, English is not the primary language they use in either setting. But for their grown children, it is."

Hispanics are the largest-growing minority in the United States. Of the U.S. population of about 300 million, Hispanics number more than 43 million people, including some 18 million first-generation immigrants, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Immigration, particularly the question of what to do with some 12 million illegal immigrants, is a hot topic among Republican and Democratic candidates jockeying to run in the presidential election in November 2008.

The Pew study, which draws on data from six surveys conducted between 2002 and 2006, weighs into a polarizing debate in the United States on the desirability, or otherwise, of linguistic assimilation for immigrant minorities.

Differences flared last year when a group of Latino and Caribbean artists recorded a version of "The Star-Spangled Banner," the U.S. national anthem, in Spanish, prompting condemnation from some public figures including President George W. Bush.

(Reporting by Tim Gaynor; Editing by Eric Beech)