English Language in the United States

English Language in the United States
Ruben Kelly
University of Phoenix COM 150
 

What language do you speak at home? In the United States alone, there are over 311 different languages spoken in the homes other than English. These languages include Spanish, Vietnamese, Chinese, Arabic, and many other languages that are found across the United States. Currently in the world today, there are over 750 million people who speak the English language as their official language, a second language, or as a mixture with other languages such as a creole or pidgin. English is the official language spoken in England, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand however the United States has no official language. The English language is looked upon as a low West Germanic language of the Indo European family of languages. The early history of the Germanic languages is based on reconstruction of a Proto Germanic language that evolved into German, English, Dutch, Afrikaans, Yiddish, and the Scandinavian languages. The most commonly spoken language other than English that is spoken in the U.S. is Spanish.   Spanish is the second most commonly spoken language in the U.S. which is spoken by 12% of the population in the United States. According to the 2000 U.S. Census people of German ancestry make up the largest single ethnic group in the U.S. and ranks fifth. Languages from Italy, Poland, and Greek are still spoken among populations descending from immigrants from those countries; however these languages are starting to dwindle as the elder generations become deceased. Tagalog and Vietnamese have over one million speakers in the United States today who are entirely of recent immigrant populations. Both languages along with Korean, Chinese, and Japanese are now used in elections in Alaska, California, Hawaii, Illinois, New York, Texas, and Washington. This leads to the importance of speaking another language in the United States.   It is critical that foreign language classes be available...