1-in-5 in US Homes Speaks a Second Language after English

About one in five people in America speak a second language at home.

在美國，大約每五個人中就有一人在家裡說第二種語言。

That is 68 million people.

也就是6800萬人。

Dina Arid of California, who is the mother of three children, is one of them.

加州三個孩子的母親迪娜·阿里德就是其中之一。

She grew up speaking Arabic at home.

她從小在家裡說阿拉伯語。

She said it is true that the country is “a melting pot,” a place where many cultures come together.

她說，這個國家確實是一個「大熔爐」，一個許多文化交會的地方。

She said some of her cousins “didn't get to learn Arabic.”

她說，她的一些表親「沒能學會阿拉伯語」。

They “always wished that their parents spoke to them in Arabic more so that they have that language,” she noted.

她指出，他們「總希望父母能多用阿拉伯語跟他們說話，這樣他們就能掌握這門語言」。

More than 41 million people — about 12 times more than the other most common second languages — speak Spanish at home.

超過4100萬人在家裡說西班牙語，大約是其他最常見第二語言使用人數的12倍。

Hispanics are the largest minority group in the United States.

西班牙裔是美國最大的少數族裔群體。

Fifty-five percent of Spanish speakers were born in the United States.

說西班牙語的人中有百分之五十五出生在美國。

The other languages in the top five are Chinese, Tagalog and Vietnamese.

排名前五的其他語言是中文、他加祿語和越南語。

Jenny Nguyen is studying dentistry in Virginia.

珍妮·阮在維吉尼亞州學習牙醫學。

Her parents emigrated from Vietnam, so they spoke both English and Vietnamese at home.

她的父母從越南移民過來，所以家裡既說英語也說越南語。

She was able to put her language skills to use when she traveled to Vietnam to offer free dental care to poor communities.

她前往越南為貧困社區提供免費牙科照護時，得以運用自己的語言能力。

Many of her co-workers there were also Vietnamese Americans.

她在那裡的許多同事也是越南裔美國人。

“They couldn't really communicate with the patients,” Nguyen says.

「他們其實沒辦法和病人溝通，」阮說。

“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.”

「我是極少數能和病人交談、向他們說明情況的年輕志工之一。」

Erway is using a language application to improve her ability in her mother's native Mandarin Chinese.

厄韋正在用一款語言應用程式來提升她母親的母語——華語的程度。

She said her parents used Chinese between them to talk secretly when their young children were listening

她說，當孩子們還小、在旁邊聽著時，她的父母會用中文悄悄交談。

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.

人口普查局報告說，同一時期在家只說英語的人數也增加了約百分之二十五。