In August 2013, the U.S. Census Bureau released the report “Language Use in the United States: 2011” to observe trends in foreign language use and English proficiency levels throughout the country. Transparent Language parsed through the report to provide you with some of they key statistics. The full report can be found here: http://www.census.gov/prod/2013pubs/acs-22.pdf More from Transparent Language can found here: www.transparent.com

1. THE STATE OF FOREIGN
LANGUAGES IN THE U.S.
REVIEW OF THE 2011 CENSUS REPORT

2. "THIS STUDY PROVIDES EVIDENCE
OF THE GROWING ROLE OF
LANGUAGES OTHER THAN ENGLISH
IN THE NATIONAL FABRIC.”
- CAMILLE RYAN, CENSUS BUREAU STATISTICIAN

3. In August 2013, the U.S. Census Bureau
released the report “Language Use in the
United States: 2011” to observe trends in
foreign language use and English
proficiency levels throughout the country.

4. WHO IS SPEAKING FOREIGN
LANGUAGES?

5. The percentage of U.S. residents speaking a
language other than English at home rose
to 20.8%.
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
2000 2007 2011
% Speaking Other Languages at Home

6. WHAT FOREIGN LANGUAGES ARE
THEY SPEAKING?

7. That 20.8% represents 60.6 million people
who spoke a language other than English in
their home.
37.6 million of those people spoke Spanish
at home.

8. In addition to English and Spanish, six other
languages are spoken at home by at least one
million people.

9. WHERE ARE FOREIGN LANGUAGES
SPOKEN MOST?

10. The national average for percentage of people speaking
a language other than English at home is 20.8%, but the
percentage varies widely from state to state.

11. California has the highest concentration of
people who speak a language other than English
at home, at 43.8%.
It is joined by New Mexico, Texas, New Jersey,
and New York, all with more than 30% of the
population speaking a different language at
home.

12. West Virginia has the lowest concentration of
people who speak a language other than English
at home, at 2.8%.
It is joined by Mississippi, Montana, Kentucky,
and Vermont, which all have fewer than 5% of
the population speaking a different language at
home.

13. Within states, large metropolitan areas like New
York and Chicago are typically home to large
proportions of people who speak another
language at home.
Smaller “micropolitan” areas, notably those in
Texas and California, also feature highly
concentrated pockets of foreign language
speakers

14. HOW IS THE USE OF A DIFFERENT
LANGUAGE AT HOME RELATED TO
ENGLISH PROFICIENCY?

15. Those who spoke a language
other than English at home
were asked to self-evaluate
their English skills on a scale
of “very well” to “not at all”.
58% reported they speak
English very well.
7% reported they do not
speak English at all.

16. The proportion of people who speak English “very well”
varies significantly among the top 10 non-English
languages spoken at home.
A higher percentage (80% or more) of German and French
speakers claim to speak English very well.
Those who spoke Asian languages such as Korean or
Chinese reported lower English proficiency rates (50% or
more).

18. While the number of people speaking a language other
than English at home rose, the percentage of the U.S.
population reporting that they spoke English less than
“very well” has not changed since 2007.

19. WHY DOES IT MATTER?

20. The United States is becoming increasingly diverse
in terms of language.
As our country is a major destination for foreign
peoples, this trend is expected to continue.

21. As the number of foreign language speakers in the
U.S. grows, improving our language capabilities will
be increasingly imperative.
Expanding our knowledge of foreign languages and
bettering our capacity to teach English effectively
will be paramount, not only to compete
internationally, but also to communicate
domestically.

22. To learn more about the state of foreign
languages in the U.S., check out the report:
“Language Use in the United States: 2011”.
To learn more about Transparent Language,
and take a step towards improving your
language capabilities, visit us on our
website.