U.S. Spanish-speaking population up 211 pct since 1980

This quote sums it up: "55.4 million - spoke a language other than English at home.
Sixty-two percent of those people, 34.5 million, spoke Spanish.
Among those who spoke a language other than English at home, the majority said that they knew English "very well."
Nearly half of the Spanish-speakers were born in the United States."
-Angela


U.S. Spanish-speaking population up 211 pct since 1980
28 de abril de 2010

Washington, Apr 28 (EFE).- Spanish speakers make up the segment of the U.S. population that has grown most in the past 30 yeas, according to figures released by the Census Bureau.
The report - entitled "Language Use in the United States: 2007" - found that the number of people age 5 and up who speak a language different from English at home more than doubled in the last three decades and has increased at a rate four times greater than the growth rate of the population in general.
From 1980 to 2007 the percentage of people who speak a language different from English at home grew about 140 percent, compared to the 34 percent rate at which the general population increased.
In 2007, there were 23.4 million more Spanish-speakers in the country than in 1980, a figure that represents growth of 211 percent, the Census Bureau said.
The states with the greatest concentrations of non-English speakers are Texas, California and New Mexico, where Spanish is widely spoken; Louisiana and Maine, where French is used, and North and South Dakota, where German is widely used.
Slavic languages are heard with more frequency in Illinois, New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, while Chinese is heard in California, New York, Hawaii and Massachusetts, and Korean is spoken in Hawaii, California and New Jersey.
In all, of the 281 million people age 5 and older tallied in the United States in 2007, 20 percent - or 55.4 million - spoke a language other than English at home.
Sixty-two percent of those people, 34.5 million, spoke Spanish.
Among those who spoke a language other than English at home, the majority said that they knew English "very well."
Nearly half of the Spanish-speakers were born in the United States.