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Census: Big jump in non-English speakers Top of list: Spanish, Chinese, Russian Non-English speakers
Nearly one in five Americans speaks a language other than English at home, the Census Bureau says, after a surge of nearly 50 percent during the past decade. Most speak Spanish, followed by Chinese, with Russian rising fast. Some 47 million Americans 5 and older used a language other than English in 2000, the bureau said. That translates into the nearly one in five, compared with roughly one in seven 10 years earlier. There were also more people considered "linguistically isolated" because of limited English, a situation that some analysts say can prevent people from assimilating fully into American society and hinder activities like grocery shopping or communicating with police or fire officials.(Summarized from the South Bend Tribune) Top 20 languages The top 20 languages other than English most frequently spoken at home in the United States, and the number of people 5 and older who speak those languages, according to the 2000 census: Language • Number Spanish • 28,101,052 Chinese • 2,022,143 French • 1,643,838 German • 1,382,613 Tagalog • 1,224,241 Vietnamese • 1,009,627 Italian • 1,008,370 Korean • 894,063 Russian • 706,242 Polish • 667,414 Arabic • 614,582 Portuguese • 564,630 Japanese • 477,997 French Creole • 453,368 Greek • 365,436 Hindi • 317,057 Persian • 312,085 Urdu • 262,900 Gujarathi • 235,988 Armenian • 202,708 | ||
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