Houston Chronicle: Latinos do learn to speak English, according to .... me!

I wrote a column for the Hispanic Link news service arguing Latinos do learn to speak English and in fact are losing Spanish language abilities. It was picked up by the Houston Chronicle.

Here's an excerpt.

In a country where the term "Spanish-speaker" passes as a synonym for "Hispanic," as much as 20 percent of the nation's Latino population does not speak the language of Cervantes, according to census data. Even Latino celebrities, including '50s rocker Richie Valens, '70s TV star Eric Estrada and '90s Tejano superstar Selena Quintanilla Perez, grew up not speaking the language.

Public discourse on Latinos almost always focuses on speaking Spanish as if it were some kind of Latino racial trait, one genetically hard-wired into us before birth.

The story link I found today is not hosted on the Chronicle site, but it's linked below:
http://www.onenation.org/0101/012201.htm