What's the third most spoken language in the USA?

[dnoblett]

Here is an interesting article, when you take English and Spanish out of the mix the language picture is quite interesting.

 

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What's the language that the most Americans speak after English? As you'd probably guess, the second-most common language spoken in the U.S. is Spanish. But if you look at the most common languages after English and Spanish, the results get a little more surprising, especially when you parse them by state.

 

If we remove Spanish from the mix, we start to see some truly surprising trends. All sorts of ethnic, immigration, and cultural patterns start to reveal themselves. You can see more Native American languages like Navajo and Dakota, lots of Korean and Vietnamese states, and plenty of our original Colonial Era holdouts: Italian, French, Portuguese. Then there are some outliers like Russian, Arabic, Hmong, and French Creole. And I don't think I would have guessed Tagalog would be the third-most spoken language in California.

 

The most shocking fact to me was seeing all the households that speak German—I can't say it's a language I hear hardly anywhere except when I travel to Europe. However, the prevalence of all those German-speaking states doesn't mean that German is the third most-spoken language by Americans. The third-most spoken language in the U.S. overall? Chinese.

MORE:

• http://gizmodo.com/the-most-common-languages-spoken-in-the-u-s-state-by-1575719698
• http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/culturebox/2014/05/language_map_what_s_the_most_popular_language_in_your_state.html

 

 

[Joecy]

I could hope it's Chinese. By Chinese, I hope it's mandarin, cause I don't speak a single word of Cantonese

[dnoblett]

I could hope it's Chinese. By Chinese, I hope it's mandarin, cause I don't speak a single word of Cantonese

Same for my wife, she grew up in Guilin, however her mother was strict in teaching her Mandarin, my wife speaks Mandarin with the proper Beijing accent. Anyway when we do visit Toronto most speak Cantonese with some understanding of Mandarin, my wife does understand some Cantonese.

 

The funniest times are when we go to various Asian restaurants, often we encounter either ABC who only know English, or non ABC that speak another Asian language like Korean or Thai, my wife has caught herself starting out a conversation in Mandarin only to have a laugh when the person indicates not understanding, my wife's response "Asian Face".

[Dennis143]

 

I could hope it's Chinese. By Chinese, I hope it's mandarin, cause I don't speak a single word of Cantonese

Same for my wife, she grew up in Guilin, however her mother was strict in teaching her Mandarin, my wife speaks Mandarin with the proper Beijing accent. Anyway when we do visit Toronto most speak Cantonese with some understanding of Mandarin, my wife does understand some Cantonese.

 

The funniest times are when we go to various Asian restaurants, often we encounter either ABC who only know English, or non ABC that speak another Asian language like Korean or Thai, my wife has caught herself starting out a conversation in Mandarin only to have a laugh when the person indicates not understanding, my wife's response "Asian Face".

 

Your wife must speak GuilinHua too, Dan.

 

My wife grew up in Nanning speaking Shanghai in their home. She speaks 8 Chinese dialects fluently, yet is still struggling with English.

[dnoblett]

 

 

I could hope it's Chinese. By Chinese, I hope it's mandarin, cause I don't speak a single word of Cantonese

Same for my wife, she grew up in Guilin, however her mother was strict in teaching her Mandarin, my wife speaks Mandarin with the proper Beijing accent. Anyway when we do visit Toronto most speak Cantonese with some understanding of Mandarin, my wife does understand some Cantonese.

 

The funniest times are when we go to various Asian restaurants, often we encounter either ABC who only know English, or non ABC that speak another Asian language like Korean or Thai, my wife has caught herself starting out a conversation in Mandarin only to have a laugh when the person indicates not understanding, my wife's response "Asian Face".

 

Your wife must speak GuilinHua too, Dan.

 

My wife grew up in Nanning speaking Shanghai in their home. She speaks 8 Chinese dialects fluently, yet is still struggling with English.

 

Oh yes she does speak the local dialect too, my brother in law has an accounting firm, recently he employed two interns from the local college to work tax season, both were from China, and one was from Guilin, at an office party my wife got to meet them, and she switched to GuilinHua with the one intern.

[Dennis143]

 

 

 

I could hope it's Chinese. By Chinese, I hope it's mandarin, cause I don't speak a single word of Cantonese

Same for my wife, she grew up in Guilin, however her mother was strict in teaching her Mandarin, my wife speaks Mandarin with the proper Beijing accent. Anyway when we do visit Toronto most speak Cantonese with some understanding of Mandarin, my wife does understand some Cantonese.

 

The funniest times are when we go to various Asian restaurants, often we encounter either ABC who only know English, or non ABC that speak another Asian language like Korean or Thai, my wife has caught herself starting out a conversation in Mandarin only to have a laugh when the person indicates not understanding, my wife's response "Asian Face".

 

Your wife must speak GuilinHua too, Dan.

 

My wife grew up in Nanning speaking Shanghai in their home. She speaks 8 Chinese dialects fluently, yet is still struggling with English.

 

Oh yes she does speak the local dialect too, my brother in law has an accounting firm, recently he employed two interns from the local college to work tax season, both were from China, and one was from Guilin, at an office party my wife got to meet them, and she switched to GuilinHua with the one intern.

 

It's pretty fun when they do that. It always amazes me when my wife may be carrying on 2 or 3 conversations in different dialects switching from on to another with ease. Boggles my mind to think that there may be a room full of Chinese ladies and my wife is carrying on several private conversations at the same time.

 

My ear can only pick out when she's speaking Mandarin.

 

The ladies seem to have quite an affinity when someone else starts speaking their native language like GuilinHua... I bet your wife may speak Beihai too Dan.

Edited May 29, 2014 by Dennis143 (see edit history)

[Guest ExChinaExpat]

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You mean when we hear, see and read Spanish dominating the US as a second language that it's not true?.

[Randy W]

You mean when we hear, see and read Spanish dominating the US as a second language that it's not true?.

 

It's taken for granite - that's why the topic is about the THIRD most prevalent language

(yes, I know it's 'granted')

[Guest ExChinaExpat]

 

You mean when we hear, see and read Spanish dominating the US as a second language that it's not true?.

It's taken for granite - that's whe the topic is about the THIRD most prevalent language

(yes, I know it's 'granted')

 

 

Third language numbers are insignificant when compared to speaking in granite.

[dnoblett]

I thought the map was quite clear, it says Most commonly spoken language OTHER than English and Spanish.

 

Yep map is a little off for California, it shows Tagalog, but data shows Chinese to be a little higher.

[Dennis143]

I thought the map was quite clear, it says Most commonly spoken language OTHER than English and Spanish.

 

Yep map is a little off for California, it shows Tagalog, but data shows Chinese to be a little higher.

yeah, I thought that was a bit off and unbelievable.

[Joecy]

Last weekend, we went to the Dragon Boat Festival picnic organized by the Chinese associations here. 100 Chinese vs.3 white guys. I felt terrible leaving my husband alone while talking in fast mandarin. So I introduced him to another Chinese lady, in English. She said: Nice to meet you. My husband replied: Ni Hao, I am her Xian Sheng. This Chinese lady responded in English: What did you say???

 

 

Salute to all the husbands here going to a all Chinese party!

[Joecy]

 

 

You mean when we hear, see and read Spanish dominating the US as a second language that it's not true?.

It's taken for granite - that's whe the topic is about the THIRD most prevalent language

(yes, I know it's 'granted')

 

 

Third language numbers are insignificant when compared to speaking in granite.

 

 

What is granite?

[Joecy]

Need to tell the wives not to lose their dialects to prevent eavesdrop

 

It's true that when we speak our hometown dialect, it feels like we are talking to an old friend from childhood. And the funny thing is, after living in the US for 2 years, my Mandarin and English keep fighting with each other and both get worse, my Shanghai dialect is intact!

Edited June 5, 2014 by Joecy (see edit history)

[Randy W]

 

 

 

It's taken for granite - that's why the topic is about the THIRD most prevalent language

(yes, I know it's 'granted')

 

 

Third language numbers are insignificant when compared to speaking in granite.

 

 

What is granite?

 

 

 

We say "It is taken for granted" to indicate something that is assumed or well-known to be true without needing an explanation. Some HEAR this as "taken for granite" (as if it were etched in stone), even though the correct expression is, "It is taken for granted".

 

Granite is a type of rock.

 

gran·ite (grăn·ĭt)

n.

1. A common, coarse-grained, light-colored, hard igneous rock consisting chiefly of quartz, orthoclase or microcline, and mica, used in monuments and for building.

2. Unyielding endurance; steadfastness: a will of granite.

 

Edited June 6, 2014 by Randy W (see edit history)