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Software Vault - The Gold Collection (American Databankers) (1993).ISO
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CB93-78
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EMBARGOED UNTIL: WED., APRIL 28, 1993
Public Information Office CB93-78
301-763-4040
Rosalind Bruno
301-763-1154
NUMBER OF NON-ENGLISH LANGUAGE SPEAKING AMERICANS
UP SHARPLY IN 1980s, CENSUS BUREAU SAYS
More than 31.8 million people (14 percent of the nation's
population 5 and over) said that they spoke a language other than
English in 1990, compared with 23.1 million (11 percent) a decade
earlier, the Commerce Department's Census Bureau said today.
After English, Spanish was the most common language. Over
half (17.3 million) of those who said they spoke a language other
than English reported that they spoke Spanish. In 1980, about
11.1 million spoke Spanish, 48 percent of all those who spoke a
language other than English.
Spanish was ten times more popular than French, which was
spoken at home by 1.7 million in 1990. The next most popular was
German at 1.5 million, followed by Italian at 1.3 million, and
Chinese at 1.2 million.
Bureau analyst Rosalind Bruno, author of the listings
Language Spoken At Home and Ability to Speak English for United
States, Regions and States: 1990 (CPH-L-133), said, "In all
four regions Spanish was the most frequently spoken non-English
language. The next most widely used language varied by
region--Italian and German in the Northeast and Midwest, and
French and Chinese in the South and West."
Among those who used a language other than English, Spanish
was the prevailing language in 39 states and the District of
Columbia; French was most used in Louisiana, Maine, New
Hampshire, and Vermont; and German in Montana, Minnesota, and
North and South Dakota. In Rhode Island, Portuguese was first;
in Alaska, it was Yupik; and in Hawaii, Japanese was the language
of most non-English language speakers.
(more)
-2-
About 4.5 million persons spoke an Asian or Pacific Island
language and nearly 332,000 spoke a Native North American
language, according to the special tabulations.
More than half of all non-English language speakers in
1990 were in three states: California (8.6 million), New York
(3.9 million), and Florida (4 million).
New Mexico had the largest percentage of non-English
language speakers at 36 percent, followed by California with
32 percent. In 21 states the proportion of persons who spoke a
non-English language was 6 percent or less.
Among the non-English language-speaking population, nearly
six in ten spoke English very well, while two in ten either spoke
English not well or not at all. For example, among the nation's
Mon-Khmer (Cambodian) and Miao (Hmong) speakers, more than
four in ten spoke English not well or not at all. Among Chinese,
Korean, Vietnamese, Russian, and Thai language populations the
proportion was roughly three in ten.
The tabulations provide 380 categories of languages coded in
the 1990 census, 170 of which were Native North American, and
53 that had no reported speaker.
-X-
Editor's Note: Media representatives may obtain copies of tables
from the bureau's Public Information Office on 301-763-4040. The
tables and two high-density disks (in ASCII format, languages in
code order for each state) are available for non-media requests,
prepaid for $25.00 each. Non-media requests should be directed
to the Population Division, Statistical Information Office,
Washington, D.C. 20233 (301-763-5002).