10 Fascinating US Language Statistics

The United States, no matter which way you break it down, is a pretty captivating place.  As the world’s third most populous country and a relative newcomer to the scene, it has attracted all sorts of people from all over the globe.  (Granted, we think we’re way more different from each other than we really are, but that’s another story.)  One window into the patchwork nature of the US is through language.  Starting with the fact that the United States doesn’t have an official language at the federal level, a closer look at the spoken word confirms just how broad-ranging the country is.  Here are 10 fascinating US language statistics.

 

1

Over 350 different languages are spoken in the US.  Included in this number are 150 Native American languages.

 

2

As mentioned elsewhere, the United States has more Spanish speakers than Spain (approximately 55 million vs. approximately 47 million).

 

3

The US has over one million Arabic speakers.  That’s more than Djibouti and more than Comoros, two countries in which Arabic is actually an official language.

 

4

The third most spoken language in the US is Chinese (Mandarin, Cantonese, and others).  The estimate is approximately three million speakers.

 

5

Half of the 10 most spoken languages in the US hail from Asia.  Those are Chinese, Tagalog, Vietnamese, Arabic, and Korean.

 

6

Of the 30 most spoken languages in the US, seven come from the Indian subcontinent, namely Hindi, Gujarati, Telugu, Bengali, Urdu, Punjabi, and Tamil.

 

7

While the US has no official language at the federal level, 31 states have declared English as the official language at the state level.  Of these 31, three actually have other official languages in addition to English.  Hawaii has Hawaiian, South Dakota has Sioux, and Alaska has many indigenous languages.

 

8

According to one resource, the United States has 192 endangered or already extinct languages.  Many of these are Native American languages.

 

9

By one measure, Italian is the fastest dying language in the United States.

 

10

If the United States were to declare English as an official language at the national level, it would be the most populated such country in the world.  Correct? No! That honor would remain with none other than India.

 

And on that note, it’s time for a hot dog.