Nearly 36% of Texans say they don't speak English at home, and 14% tell the U.S. Census bureau in its latest 'community survey' that they 'don't speak English well,' meaning more than a third of Texans prefer a language other than English in their private lives, News Radio 1200 WOAI reports.'
That puts Texas number two in the country, behind California, in the percentage of its residents who don't speak or don't prefer English.
The study only covered people 'five years and older.'
In California, 44% of residents said they don't speak English at home.
The Census Bureau didn't ask whether the people routinely speak English outside the home, in the business, or in their public affairs.
“We ask one question about whether people speak a language other than English at home, what language they speak, and how well they speak English to create a profile of the languages spoken in communities,” says the Census Bureau on its website.
The Census Bureau didn't break down the languages that are spoken in the home, but previous research as shown that Spanish is the number one language of more than half of American residents who speak a language other than English, but Chinese, Arabic, Vietnamese, Portuguese, and Pashtun, the language of Afghanistan and parts of Pakistan, have ranked high in previous studies.
21% of Americans say they speak a language other than English at home. West Virginia and Montana, both of which have fewer than five percent of resident speaking another language at home, are the most 'English Only' states.