What Languages are Spoken in Your Area?

From Random Samplings:
"Did you know that more than 300 different languages are spoken in the United States? A new report and mapping tool released today by the U.S. Census Bureau takes a detailed look at many of the most popular languages spoken at home in America.

Of the 292 million people age 5 and older in the U.S.  in 2011, 60.6 million individuals, or 21 percent, reported speaking a language other than English at home. This number grew by 158 percent from 1980 to 2010, while the nation’s overall population age 5 years and older grew by 38 percent. Check out this viz-of-the-week to see which languages grew the most..."
Languages spoken by area

Native North American Languages Spoken at Home in the United States and Puerto Rico: 2006–201

"This report presents data on the frequency and percentage of the U.S. population aged 5 and over who spoke a Native North American language at home. The data are based on 5-year estimates from the 2006–2010 American Community Survey (ACS) and the 2006–2010 Puerto Rico Community Survey. For the first time ever, this aggregation of ACS data over a 5-year period allows us to study small segments of the population, such as speakers of Native North American languages.."

New Home Movies Resurrect Endangered American Indian Language

"University of Minnesota Duluth education professor Mary Hermes says saving an endangered language goes beyond just enriching the people who speak it.

"I think people have got to get beyond thinking it's just for the Ojibwe people, that we want to save their Ojibwe language. There's 10,000 years of human evolution and knowledge in that language," she says.

With support from the National Science Foundation (NSF), Hermes is combining the skills of native speakers with video technology to help others, young and old, learn the language in the most natural way. She's doing it by videotaping short movies of everyday situations, from going to a rummage sale to planting a garden to helping out a sick relative..."

Justice Department Issues Guidance Letter to State Courts Regarding Their Obligation to Provide Language Access
"The Justice Department today issued a letter to chief justices and administrators of state courts clarifying the obligation of courts that receive federal financial assistance to provide oral interpretation, written translation and other language services to people who are limited English proficient (LEP). This month marks the 10th anniversary of Executive Order 13166 which requires federal agencies to ensure that recipients of federal financial assistance comply with Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by providing meaningful access to LEP persons.

Today’s letter provides state courts guidance regarding the requirement to provide meaningful access to their programs and services for LEP persons through the provision of language services, pursuant to the prohibition against national origin discrimination contained in Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act (Safe Streets Act), and their implementing regulations. The letter includes an overview of applicable civil rights laws, Supreme Court precedent, guidance and illustrative examples of situations that would warrant the provision of language services..."

New Census Bureau Report Analyzes Nation’s Linguistic Diversity
"The number of people 5 and older who spoke a language other than English at home has more than doubled in the last three decades and at a pace four times greater than the nation’s population growth, according to a new U.S. Census Bureau report analyzing data from the 2007 American Community Survey and over a time period from 1980 – 2007. In that time frame, the percentage of speakers of non-English languages grew by 140 percent while the nation’s overall population grew by 34 percent.

Spanish speakers accounted for the largest numeric increase — nationwide, there were 23.4 million more speakers in 2007 than in 1980 representing a 211 percent increase. The Vietnamese-speaking population accounted for the largest percentage increase of 511 percent (1.0 million speakers) over the same timeframe.

The new report, Language Use in the United States: 2007 [PDF], identifies the states with the highest concentrations of some of the most commonly spoken non-English languages. The languages, and some of the states with the highest percentage of speakers of these languages, include: Spanish (Texas, California and New Mexico), French (Louisiana and Maine), German (North Dakota and South Dakota), Slavic languages (Illinois, New York, New Jersey and Connecticut), Chinese (California, New York, Hawaii and Massachusetts) and Korean (Hawaii, California and New Jersey)..."