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.

在美国，大约每五个人中就有一人在家里说第二种语言。

That is 68 million people.

也就是6800万人。

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

加利福尼亚州三个孩子的母亲迪娜·阿里德就是其中之一。

She grew up speaking Arabic at home.

她从小在家里说阿拉伯语。

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

她说，这个国家确实是一个“大熔炉”，一个许多文化交汇的地方。

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

她说，她的一些表亲“没能学会阿拉伯语”。

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

她指出，他们“总希望父母能多用阿拉伯语跟他们说话，这样他们就能掌握这门语言”。

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

超过4100万人在家里说西班牙语，大约是其他最常见第二语言使用人数的12倍。

Hispanics are the largest minority group in the United States.

西班牙裔是美国最大的少数族裔群体。

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

说西班牙语的人中有百分之五十五出生在美国。

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

排名前五的其他语言是汉语、他加禄语和越南语。

Jenny Nguyen is studying dentistry in Virginia.

珍妮·阮在弗吉尼亚州学习牙医学。

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

她的父母从越南移民过来，所以家里既说英语也说越南语。

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

她前往越南为贫困社区提供免费牙科护理时，得以运用自己的语言能力。

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

她在那里的许多同事也是越南裔美国人。

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

“他们其实没办法和病人沟通，”阮说。

“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.”

“我是极少数能和病人交谈、向他们说明情况的年轻志愿者之一。”

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

厄韦正在用一款语言应用来提高她母亲的母语——普通话的水平。

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

她说，当孩子们还小、在旁边听着时，她的父母会用中文悄悄交谈。

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.

人口普查局报告说，同一时期在家只说英语的人数也增加了约百分之二十五。