第1711期:1-in-5 in US Homes Speaks a Second Language after English

The U.S. Census Bureau reports that the number of people in the United States who speak a language other than English at home increased by three times between 1980 and 2019. About one in five people in America speak a second language at home. That is 68 million people.

美国人口普查局报告称，在 1980 年至 2019 年期间，美国人在家中使用非英语语言的人数增加了三倍。大约五分之一的美国人在家中使用第二语言。那是6800万人。

Dina Arid of California, who is the mother of three children, is one of them. She grew up speaking Arabic at home. She said it is true that the country is “a melting pot,” a place where many cultures come together. Arabic is one of the five most-spoken second languages in the U.S. Arid speaks mostly English to her children and is trying to teach them a little Arabic. She said some of her cousins “didn't get to learn Arabic.” They “always wished that their parents spoke to them in Arabic more so that they have that language,” she noted.

加州的迪娜·阿里德 (Dina Arid) 是三个孩子的母亲，她就是其中之一。她从小在家里说阿拉伯语。她说，这个国家确实是一个“大熔炉”，是多种文化汇聚的地方。阿拉伯语是美国使用最多的五种第二语言之一。Arid 主要对她的孩子说英语，并试图教他们一点阿拉伯语。她说她的一些表亲“没学过阿拉伯语”。他们“总是希望他们的父母更多地用阿拉伯语与他们交谈，这样他们就能掌握那种语言，”她指出。

Spanish is the most popular second language in the United States. More than 41 million people — about 12 times more than the other most common second languages — speak Spanish at home. Hispanics are the largest minority group in the United States. Fifty-five percent of Spanish speakers were born in the United States. The other languages in the top five are Chinese, Tagalog and Vietnamese.

西班牙语是美国最受欢迎的第二语言。超过 4100 万人——大约是其他最常见的第二语言的 12 倍——在家里说西班牙语。西班牙裔是美国最大的少数族群。百分之五十五的西班牙语使用者出生在美国。前五名中的其他语言是中文、他加禄语和越南语。

Jenny Nguyen is studying dentistry in Virginia. Her parents emigrated from Vietnam, so they spoke both English and Vietnamese at home. “I would speak English at school during the day and at night I would only speak Vietnamese just so I could keep the language, Nguyen says. “When I was younger, I didn't understand the importance, but I think now I'm very glad that I'm able to speak and write at such a proficient level.”

Jenny Nguyen 正在弗吉尼亚学习牙科。她的父母从越南移民，所以他们在家说英语和越南语。“白天我会在学校说英语，晚上我只会说越南语，这样我就可以保留这门语言，”Nguyen 说。“年轻的时候，我不明白其中的重要性，但我想现在我很高兴我能以如此熟练的水平说和写。”

She was able to put her language skills to use when she traveled to Vietnam to offer free dental care to poor communities. Many of her co-workers there were also Vietnamese Americans. “They couldn't really communicate with the patients,” Nguyen says. “I was one of the very few young volunteers that were able to speak with the patients and communicate with them what was going on.”

当她前往越南为贫困社区提供免费牙科护理时，她能够运用自己的语言技能。她的许多同事也是越南裔美国人。 “他们无法真正与患者沟通，”Nguyen 说。 “我是为数不多的能够与患者交谈并与他们交流正在发生的事情的年轻志愿者之一。”

Cathy Erway is a food writer based in New York City. Erway is using a language application to improve her ability in her mother’s native Mandarin Chinese. She said her parents used Chinese between them to talk secretly when their young children were listening The Census Bureau reports that the number of people who spoke only English at home also increased – by about 25 percent – during the same period.

Cathy Erway 是纽约市的美食作家。 Erway 正在使用一种语言应用程序来提高她使用母亲的母语普通话的能力。她说，当他们年幼的孩子在听的时候，她的父母在他们之间用中文秘密交谈。人口普查局报告说，同一时期在家里只说英语的人数也增加了约 25%。