Foreign languages are on the increase in the US, according to a Census Bureau report.
The number of people speaking a language other than English in the home has increased by 140 percent since 1980. Spanish has seen the biggest numerical increase, with 211 percent more speakers, although Vietnamese has seen the most growth percentage-wise, at 511 percent (1 million).
Some other languages were found to be in decline, however. Italian, Yiddish and Polish were among a handful of languages whose number of speakers had decreased.
Overall, one in five of the US population speaks a foreign language at home. Between 50 and 70 percent of those say they speak English "very well."
California had the most foreign-language speakers, with over 42 percent, while at just above two percent, West Virginia was the least linguistically diverse.
The findings of such surveys are essential to informing marketing, legislative and legal decisions.
"The language data that the Census Bureau collects is vital to local agencies in determining potential language needs of school-aged children, for providing voting materials in non-English languages as mandated by the Voting Rights Act, and for researchers to analyze language trends in the US," said Robert M Groves, the Bureau's Director.
The status of languages other than English continues to be a point of controversy across the US.
In Alabama, laws allowing driving tests to be taken in 12 languages have come under fire, with a Republican campaign under way to introduce English-only tests.
Meanwhile, teachers in Arizona are being assessed for their language skills in response to concerns that some cannot speak English fluently.
02 May 2010
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