Spanish is the most popular non-English language in the U.S., even among non-Hispanics (37.6 million people ages 5 years and older speak Spanish at home), and it is one of the fastest-growing languages in the world.

That said, while the use of Spanish has grown and been incorporated into many aspects of life in the U.S., researchers project that the number of Hispanics speaking Spanish will drop from three-fourths to about two-thirds by 2020. Also, 34 percent of Hispanics will speak only English at home by 2020.

As the U.S. Hispanic population grows because of immigration and high birth rates, younger Latinos are less likely to speak Spanish compared to preceding generations. Hispanic millennials and youth are assimilating, and Latinos are releasing cultural practices in favor of American trends, following the same pattern as Italian, German and Polish speakers.

"The trend of Latinos speaking less Spanish follows a well-trod pattern of migration and language adjustment that is far older than Latin Americans settling in what is now the U.S.," said Melissa Mann, an interpreter and translator, who mastered Spanish and Portuguese while living abroad in Brazil, Mexico and Chile. "Changes in spoken language on account of geographic and demographic shifts have been happening at least as long as humans have been documenting language and travel."

Latinos speaking less Spanish hails both a cultural loss and a concurrent cultural gain, according to Mann. New cultures will rise from the ever-evolving Latino culture. Traditional U.S. Latino culture will fuse with the broader U.S. culture, while paying homage to the culture of yesteryear. The change form a new Latino identity in time, somewhat akin to Ashkenazi Jews, who likely no longer speak Yiddish but have peppered the English language with Yiddish words.

However, some believe that no matter how integrated Latinos become in American society, they will never lose their taste for Spanish.

"Spanish is not going away any time soon, not in this country or in this hemisphere, but that doesn't mean everyone understands its importance. I know I didn't while growing up. In my younger, self-hating days, I thought of Spanish as an impediment, as something that might hold me back from the Golden Road to Assimilation," said award-winning novelist Junot Diaz during a previous interview with Latin Post. "This was the script my parents and my teachers sold to me, and not understanding anything else, I bought it. Only later did I realize what I was losing and how important it is to be able to communicate with your community, to build solidarities, to understand oneself."

"These days there are more resources and more positive views of Spanish, but we still live in a country which maligns all things Latino and so one can understand why our community doesn't always treat our Spanish language like the treasure it is," Diaz said.

Latinos are likely to remain interested in their own identity and the Spanish language and will hopefully take the time to "question current and earlier expressions of Latino culture, to learn the language and its idioms, to talk to elders, to read books and to travel," Mann said.

Mann understands the importance of language: she translates written documents for clients all over the world, almost exclusively from Spanish and Portuguese into English, and provides conference, media and tradeshow interpreting in Spanish, English and Portuguese.

She commented on how each language carries a plethora of rich cultures and histories. The more a language is embraced, the more genuine the appreciation for said language and an understanding of the cultures expressed by that language.

The incorporation of Spanish into American culture does not necessarily indicate the erasure of Spanish. Spanish happens to be spoken by more non-Hispanics in U.S. homes than any other non-English language and many Spanish-language networks have higher television ratings than their English-language counterparts.

Spanish words are mainstays in English conversations, and other elements of Hispanic culture have affected mealtime, buying trends, television programming and education. Despite the decline of Spanish being spoken by Hispanics, the value of the language is not lost on the Hispanic community.

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