Guess How Many Languages are Spoken in the U.S.

 

 

If you seem to be noticing more languages being spoken by your customers and clients, it’s not your imagination!

With just a bit of research, you’ll find that over 300 languages are being spoken today in the United States. Here are just three authoritative resources with strikingly different totals:

• ETHNOLOGUE.com – 245 languages “The number of individual languages listed for United States is 245. Of those, 176 are living languages, 4 are second languages without mother-tongue speakers, and 65 have no known speakers.”
• WIKIPEDIA.org – 337 languages spoken or signed, of which 176 are indigenous and 52 languages are now extinct.
• US-ENGLISH.org – 322 languages “There are 322 languages spoken at home in the United States.”

Ethnologue, in particular, has some interesting “language maps” for where you live and work. Check them out here:

• United States of America: Index Map
• United States of America, Alaska and Hawaii
• Northwestern United States of America
• Southwestern United States of America
• Northern Central United States of America
• Northeastern United States of America
• Southeastern United States of America