Since Rosa Espinoza moved to Stamford from Peru 16 years ago, she and her children seem to live in different worlds.

At home, she speaks her native tongue, Spanish. But in the ears of her two children — one born in the United States, the other only 2 when the family moved — Spanish is a foreign language.

Her children, like so many sons and daughters of immigrants, grew up with American television and English-speaking friends in English-speaking schools. Often they don’t speak Spanish at all.

“We speak Spanish to them, but they respond in English,” said Espinoza, 45. “Their first language is English.”

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