Speaking Spanish is Great, But Only If You're Not Latino

This heading is funny -- and true. Non-Latinos want to learn Spanish and Latinos are leaving Spanish and learning English.   - - Donna Poisl

By Maribel Hermosillo 

As an undocumented migrant, my father didn't speak Spanish to us growing up. In fact, he was obsessed with learning English quickly. He read newspapers every day hoping to catch up. Lucky for us, my mother wanted us to know Spanish so we could connect with our family in Mexico. Today, my ability to speak Spanish is much better than many first-generation Mexican-Americans, but I still have much to learn.

Honestly, my first language is Spanglish.

There are roughly 37 million Spanish speakers living in the United States, which makes Spanish our second-most common language. According to the Pew Research Center, the percentage of Latinos who speak Spanish will fall from 75% to 66% by 2020, even though the number of Spanish speakers will rise to a projected 40 million by 2020.
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