billennial
What to know
The term billennial is a portmanteau of “bilingual” and “millennial” and refers to a millennial audience that consumes their media in two languages (e.g., both English and Spanish), whether or not they have a command of either language. It was popularized by Univision in 2014 to refer to millennial Hispanic and Latine audiences. The LA Times popularized the term to a mainstream audience in 2015 with the article “The billennial generation: how bilingual millennials are changing Spanish-language TV.”
The term has mainly been used to describe Spanish-speaking bilingual millennials. For US-born Hispanics and Latines, Spanish still is an important connection to their culture, even if they easily live between both languages.
In recent years, the discussion around bilingualism has paved the way for the “no sabo” generation — younger Hispanics and Latines who may speak or understand little to no Spanish, and who are leading efforts to destigmatize this and bring awareness to the plethora of other languages spoken in Latin America.