Table 5. Detailed Language Spoken at Home and Ability to Speak English for Persons 5 Years and Over --50 Languages with Greatest Number of Speakers: United States 1990 Ranked by Total Number of Speakers Ranked by Number Who Speak English Less Than "Very Well" __________________________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________ __________________________________ 1990 1990 ------ ENGLISH ABILITY ------------- RANK RANK 1990 VERY NOT NOT AT LESS THAN LESS THAN TOTAL RANK LANGUAGE TOTAL WELL WELL WELL ALL "VERY WELL" LANGUAGE VERY WELL TOTAL SPEAKERS __________________________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________ __________________________________ UNITED STATES 230,445,777 UNITED STATES 230,445,777 ENGLISH ONLY 198,600,798 ENGLISH ONLY 198,600,798 TOTAL NONENGLISH 31,844,979 17,862,477 7,310,301 4,826,958 1,845,243 TOTAL NONENGLISH 13,982,502 31,844,979 1 SPANISH 17,339,172 9,033,407 3,804,792 3,040,828 1,460,145 1 SPANISH 8,305,765 17,339,172 1 2 FRENCH 1,702,176 1,226,043 318,409 149,505 8,219 2 CHINESE 752,936 1,249,213 5 3 GERMAN 1,547,099 1,161,127 284,809 96,804 4,359 3 FRENCH 476,133 1,702,176 2 4 ITALIAN 1,308,648 874,032 283,354 134,114 17,148 4 ITALIAN 434,616 1,308,648 4 5 CHINESE 1,249,213 496,277 379,720 264,240 108,976 5 GERMAN 385,972 1,547,099 3 6 TAGALOG 843,251 556,252 223,971 58,320 4,708 6 KOREAN 383,539 626,478 8 7 POLISH 723,483 455,551 169,548 85,298 13,086 7 VIETNAMESE 320,862 507,069 9 8 KOREAN 626,478 242,939 195,120 154,617 33,802 8 TAGALOG 286,999 843,251 6 9 VIETNAMESE 507,069 186,207 177,689 118,180 24,993 9 POLISH 267,932 723,483 7 10 PORTUGUESE 429,860 235,283 96,243 71,305 27,029 10 JAPANESE 224,460 427,657 11 11 JAPANESE 427,657 203,197 133,364 83,276 7,820 11 PORTUGUESE 194,577 429,860 10 12 GREEK 388,260 266,072 78,153 38,799 5,236 12 RUSSIAN 131,430 241,798 15 13 ARABIC 355,150 235,509 82,149 31,596 5,896 13 THAI (LAOTIAN) 128,020 206,266 17 14 HINDI (URDU) 331,484 234,705 67,276 24,365 5,138 14 GREEK 122,188 388,260 12 15 RUSSIAN 241,798 110,368 66,126 50,365 14,939 15 ARABIC 119,641 355,150 13 16 YIDDISH 213,064 151,377 44,213 15,431 2,043 16 FRENCH CREOLE 98,602 187,658 19 17 THAI (LAOTIAN) 206,266 78,246 70,177 47,374 10,469 17 HINDI (URDU) 96,779 331,484 14 18 PERSIAN 201,865 125,135 51,517 19,749 5,464 18 MON-KHMER (CAMBODIAN) 93,445 127,441 25 19 FRENCH CREOLE 187,658 89,056 56,730 35,710 6,162 19 PERSIAN 76,730 201,865 18 20 ARMENIAN 149,694 74,586 36,408 25,401 13,299 20 ARMENIAN 75,108 149,694 20 21 NAVAHO 148,530 82,261 44,481 14,172 7,616 21 NAVAHO 66,269 148,530 21 22 HUNGARIAN 147,902 96,200 37,875 12,691 1,136 22 MIAO (HMONG) 63,549 81,877 30 23 HEBREW 144,292 110,440 26,685 6,471 696 23 YIDDISH 61,687 213,064 16 24 DUTCH 142,684 108,936 27,888 5,470 390 24 HUNGARIAN 51,702 147,902 22 25 MON-KHMER (CAMBODIAN) 127,441 33,996 38,782 40,921 13,742 25 PENNSYLVANIA DUTCH 36,123 83,525 29 26 GUJARATHI 102,418 67,704 22,657 8,998 3,059 26 UKRAINIAN 35,619 96,568 27 27 UKRAINIAN 96,568 60,949 22,515 11,870 1,234 27 GUJARATHI 34,714 102,418 26 28 CZECH 92,485 65,336 21,435 5,422 292 28 HEBREW 33,852 144,292 23 29 PENNSYLVANIA DUTCH 83,525 47,402 31,310 4,112 701 29 DUTCH 33,748 142,684 24 30 MIAO (HMONG) 81,877 18,328 25,645 26,505 11,399 30 RUMANIAN 31,713 65,265 36 31 NORWEGIAN 80,723 63,681 12,706 4,174 162 31 SERBOCROATIAN 27,661 70,964 34 32 SLOVAK 80,388 58,311 16,322 5,503 252 32 CZECH 27,149 92,485 28 33 SWEDISH 77,511 62,724 11,364 3,234 189 33 FORMOSAN 25,253 46,044 40 34 SERBOCROATIAN 70,964 43,303 18,149 8,365 1,147 34 ILOCANO 22,934 41,131 43 35 KRU 65,848 53,563 10,630 1,511 144 35 SLOVAK 22,077 80,388 32 36 RUMANIAN 65,265 33,552 20,332 8,922 2,459 36 PANJABI 18,168 50,005 39 37 LITHUANIAN 55,781 38,775 11,930 4,820 256 37 NORWEGIAN 17,042 80,723 31 38 FINNISH 54,350 40,996 10,230 3,001 123 38 LITHUANIAN 17,006 55,781 37 39 PANJABI 50,005 31,837 10,448 5,616 2,104 39 TURKISH 16,192 41,876 42 40 FORMOSAN 46,044 20,791 15,562 7,712 1,979 40 CROATIAN 15,217 45,206 41 41 CROATIAN 45,206 29,989 10,964 3,912 341 41 SWEDISH 14,787 77,511 33 42 TURKISH 41,876 25,684 10,515 4,653 1,024 42 SYRIAC 14,510 35,146 46 43 ILOCANO 41,131 18,197 14,770 7,354 810 43 INDONESIAN 13,435 24,996 54 44 BENGALI 38,101 25,417 9,808 2,578 298 44 FINNISH 13,354 54,350 38 45 DANISH 35,639 29,665 4,771 1,135 68 45 AMHARIC 12,862 31,505 50 46 SYRIAC 35,146 20,636 9,106 3,956 1,448 46 MALAYALAM 12,818 33,949 48 47 SAMOAN 34,914 23,660 7,712 3,129 413 47 BENGALI 12,684 38,101 44 48 MALAYALAM 33,949 21,131 10,093 2,006 719 48 KRU 12,285 65,848 35 49 CAJUN 33,670 23,834 7,577 2,073 186 49 MANDARIN 11,751 23,114 56 50 AMHARIC 31,505 18,643 9,359 3,078 425 50 SAMOAN 11,254 34,914 47 NOTE: 1990 Census language questions: "Does this person speak a language other than English at home?" "What is this language?" "How well does this person speak English --very well, well, not well, not at all?" Source: U.S. Bureau of the Census, 1990 Census of Population, CPHL-133 Contact: Education and Social Stratification Branch, Population Division 301-457-2464