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Thread: Most Commonly Spoken Language Other Than English or Spanish By State

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    Member NebraskaRed's Avatar
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    Most Commonly Spoken Language Other Than English or Spanish By State

    http://mentalfloss.com/article/56714...sh-and-spanish

    Not surprised that Vietnamese is Nebraska's #3 spoken language. However, French has to be close since there are a large number of West African immigrants here.

    Anyone surprised by their state's #3 language?


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    Mon chou Choo vaticanplum's Avatar
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    Re: Most Commonly Spoken Language Other Than English or Spanish By State

    This is really, really interesting. I'm not floored by anything, but a couple of things do stick out:

    - I'm surprised that Arabic is the third language in only one state; I would have thought it would be more. Also surprised that Hindi doesn't show up at all.

    - I'm not surprised that German is as common as it is, but I guess it's a little surprising to me that there's so little Eastern European representation (one Polish state and one Russian -- Oregon, no less, which I would have expected to have an Asian language as its third).

    - This might be pure ignorance on my part, but I am not sure where there is a large Brazilian or Portuguese population in Massachusetts. I would have guessed Chinese for MA given the large Chinese student and research population around Boston, but I wonder to what degree college students are represented in this.

    - I find it kind of funny that French is Louisiana's third language but French Creole is Florida's.

    - Kind of surprising to me that there is no Pennsylvania Dutch or Pennsylvania German representation at all. I guess all the Italian speakers in Philly override that in Pennsylvania (but being Italian, I'm thrilled that PA is one of only two states where Italian is the third language).
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    Re: Most Commonly Spoken Language Other Than English or Spanish By State

    Quote Originally Posted by vaticanplum View Post
    This is really, really interesting. I'm not floored by anything, but a couple of things do stick out:

    - I'm surprised that Arabic is the third language in only one state; I would have thought it would be more. Also surprised that Hindi doesn't show up at all.

    - I'm not surprised that German is as common as it is, but I guess it's a little surprising to me that there's so little Eastern European representation (one Polish state and one Russian -- Oregon, no less, which I would have expected to have an Asian language as its third).

    - This might be pure ignorance on my part, but I am not sure where there is a large Brazilian or Portuguese population in Massachusetts. I would have guessed Chinese for MA given the large Chinese student and research population around Boston, but I wonder to what degree college students are represented in this.

    - I find it kind of funny that French is Louisiana's third language but French Creole is Florida's.

    - Kind of surprising to me that there is no Pennsylvania Dutch or Pennsylvania German representation at all. I guess all the Italian speakers in Philly override that in Pennsylvania (but being Italian, I'm thrilled that PA is one of only two states where Italian is the third language).
    The Chinese in Oregon our easily 3rd, 4th generation... if any Asian language I'd say Vietnamese. Still, the white to others is pretty high and yes, lots of Russians here

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    Mon chou Choo vaticanplum's Avatar
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    Re: Most Commonly Spoken Language Other Than English or Spanish By State

    Quote Originally Posted by westofyou View Post
    The Chinese in Oregon our easily 3rd, 4th generation... if any Asian language I'd say Vietnamese. Still, the white to others is pretty high and yes, lots of Russians here
    I feel like this goes to show you how important long-term entrenchment of a language and culture is. Russia has had a massive influx to the US over the past 20 years, but obviously next to nothing for decades before that. So no matter how many speak it here now, it will probably take many more decades for the generations to grow enough to take over as third language in more places. I'll bet a lot of that German goes all the way back to 19th-century immigration.

    On the other hand, it's also a question of where people settle. If a lot of people speaking Hindi or Japanese (totally unrepresented here) are settling in heavily populated urban areas, there's a lot of language noise, so to speak, to drown them out. There are no doubt socio-economic and educational factors at work here too.
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    Re: Most Commonly Spoken Language Other Than English or Spanish By State

    Quote Originally Posted by vaticanplum View Post
    I feel like this goes to show you how important long-term entrenchment of a language and culture is. Russia has had a massive influx to the US over the past 20 years, but obviously next to nothing for decades before that. So no matter how many speak it here now, it will probably take many more decades for the generations to grow enough to take over as third language in more places. I'll bet a lot of that German goes all the way back to 19th-century immigration.

    On the other hand, it's also a question of where people settle. If a lot of people speaking Hindi or Japanese (totally unrepresented here) are settling in heavily populated urban areas, there's a lot of language noise, so to speak, to drown them out. There are no doubt socio-economic and educational factors at work here too.
    This map was compiled from census bureau info, which, I assume, comes from a survey question asking what language is the primarily language spoken in the home. I've had a lot of experience helping members of the Iraqi community here in Lincoln, and a lot of them really stress the importance of speaking English to their children. That may have skewed some of the results if they answered "English" even if that isn't necessarily the primary language spoken in their home.

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    Re: Most Commonly Spoken Language Other Than English or Spanish By State

    I'm guessing the "French Creole" in Florida is Haitian?

    Shocked Chinese wasn't the third for California.

    Lakota and Navajo, way to hang in there!

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    We Need Our Myths reds1869's Avatar
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    Re: Most Commonly Spoken Language Other Than English or Spanish By State

    Quote Originally Posted by vaticanplum View Post

    - This might be pure ignorance on my part, but I am not sure where there is a large Brazilian or Portuguese population in Massachusetts.
    Boston has a fairly large Brazilian population. When my sister lived in Somerville her neighborhood was nothing but Brazilians.

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    Re: Most Commonly Spoken Language Other Than English or Spanish By State

    I have no explanation for French being the third most spoken language in WV. I would have expected Japanese, because of business interests.
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    Re: Most Commonly Spoken Language Other Than English or Spanish By State

    Quote Originally Posted by Rojo View Post
    I'm guessing the "French Creole" in Florida is Haitian?

    Shocked Chinese wasn't the third for California.

    Lakota and Navajo, way to hang in there!
    Lots of Haitians in South Florida. Last time I was down there, there were a handful of radio stations broadcasting in Creole.
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    Re: Most Commonly Spoken Language Other Than English or Spanish By State

    Quote Originally Posted by Rojo View Post
    Shocked Chinese wasn't the third for California.
    that's because there is no such language, if they're demarking the difference between French and French-Creole, I guarantee they're demarking the difference between Mandarin, Cantonese, Zhuang, Manchu, etc.
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    Re: Most Commonly Spoken Language Other Than English or Spanish By State

    grrr...I just noticed that New York is listed as Chinese. which one? there's almost equal number of native Mandarin and Cantonese speakers in China. if they're gonna go that generic, Florida should just be switched to French and Minnesota to Vietnamese.
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    Oy Vey! Red in Chicago's Avatar
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    Re: Most Commonly Spoken Language Other Than English or Spanish By State

    I believe that Chicago is only second to Warsaw in the number of Polish speaking people. I know there are millions of Germans in this country, but I've rarely encountered any that actually speak the language. I'm jealous of my fellow Italians in NJ and PA. I wish the elders in the family would have made more of an effort to pass along their native tongue, rather than stressing integration so much.

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    Mon chou Choo vaticanplum's Avatar
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    Re: Most Commonly Spoken Language Other Than English or Spanish By State

    Quote Originally Posted by dabvu2498 View Post
    Lots of Haitians in South Florida. Last time I was down there, there were a handful of radio stations broadcasting in Creole.
    I'm not surprised that it's French Creole in Florida, just find it funny that the "Creole" part didn't make the cut in Louisiana.


    Quote Originally Posted by Ravenlord View Post
    grrr...I just noticed that New York is listed as Chinese. which one? there's almost equal number of native Mandarin and Cantonese speakers in China. if they're gonna go that generic, Florida should just be switched to French and Minnesota to Vietnamese.
    My guess is that's intentional -- that in New York, all forms of Chinese together make up the third-biggest group of speakers. Whereas in, e.g., Minnesota and Florida, the more specific dialects alone outnumber everybody else. I actually appreciate that they did that -- if all the dialects of Chinese individually aren't enough to be the third-biggest, I think it's more reflective of the population at large to group them together. Actually, that may be what happened in Louisiana too -- Florida's French speakers are mostly Haitian, but all kinds of French are spoken in Louisiana.

    I don't know much about Chinese though, so this is assuming that there's some overlap. If they're totally different languages, it doesn't make sense to lump them together.
    Last edited by vaticanplum; 05-17-2014 at 08:12 PM.
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    Re: Most Commonly Spoken Language Other Than English or Spanish By State

    Quote Originally Posted by Red in Chicago View Post
    I believe that Chicago is only second to Warsaw in the number of Polish speaking people.
    I believe you are correct. if memory serves, up until the last census in Poland, Chicago was the largest ethnic Polish city in the world. a couple that surprised me, as of 2010, Boston is the third biggest Cambodian city in the world, and New Orleans the largest Vietnamese city outside of the country.
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    Re: Most Commonly Spoken Language Other Than English or Spanish By State

    The ATM closest to my house has three language options: English, Spanish, and Somali.
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