Sat Sep 13, 2014, 01:07 PM
Jesus Malverde (10,274 posts)
What is the most common language spoken in each state, apart from English or Spanish?
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62 replies, 3906 views
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Author | Time | Post |
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Jesus Malverde | Sep 2014 | OP |
cali | Sep 2014 | #1 | |
Gormy Cuss | Sep 2014 | #3 | |
merrily | Sep 2014 | #6 | |
Gormy Cuss | Sep 2014 | #14 | |
merrily | Sep 2014 | #15 | |
Gormy Cuss | Sep 2014 | #19 | |
merrily | Sep 2014 | #41 | |
Art_from_Ark | Sep 2014 | #58 | |
merrily | Sep 2014 | #60 | |
Cleita | Sep 2014 | #10 | |
merrily | Sep 2014 | #16 | |
Boom Sound 416 | Sep 2014 | #46 | |
NutmegYankee | Sep 2014 | #13 | |
merrily | Sep 2014 | #20 | |
adigal | Sep 2014 | #26 | |
AverageJoe90 | Sep 2014 | #30 | |
adigal | Sep 2014 | #31 | |
NutmegYankee | Sep 2014 | #36 | |
amandabeech | Sep 2014 | #62 | |
eppur_se_muova | Sep 2014 | #40 | |
Yupster | Sep 2014 | #53 | |
Cleita | Sep 2014 | #50 | |
Scootaloo | Sep 2014 | #2 | |
merrily | Sep 2014 | #7 | |
roody | Sep 2014 | #9 | |
Erich Bloodaxe BSN | Sep 2014 | #27 | |
Neoma | Sep 2014 | #51 | |
merrily | Sep 2014 | #4 | |
cali | Sep 2014 | #5 | |
merrily | Sep 2014 | #8 | |
katmondoo | Sep 2014 | #11 | |
merrily | Sep 2014 | #22 | |
Gormy Cuss | Sep 2014 | #18 | |
Tanuki | Sep 2014 | #24 | |
merrily | Sep 2014 | #42 | |
Tierra_y_Libertad | Sep 2014 | #12 | |
hifiguy | Sep 2014 | #17 | |
merrily | Sep 2014 | #43 | |
IDemo | Sep 2014 | #21 | |
socialist_n_TN | Sep 2014 | #23 | |
merrily | Sep 2014 | #44 | |
socialist_n_TN | Sep 2014 | #56 | |
merrily | Sep 2014 | #57 | |
delete_bush | Sep 2014 | #25 | |
merrily | Sep 2014 | #45 | |
Louisiana1976 | Sep 2014 | #28 | |
PeaceNikki | Sep 2014 | #32 | |
Erich Bloodaxe BSN | Sep 2014 | #29 | |
treestar | Sep 2014 | #33 | |
PeaceNikki | Sep 2014 | #34 | |
treestar | Sep 2014 | #35 | |
Aerows | Sep 2014 | #37 | |
tblue37 | Sep 2014 | #38 | |
Aerows | Sep 2014 | #39 | |
kelliekat44 | Sep 2014 | #47 | |
Jackpine Radical | Sep 2014 | #54 | |
kelliekat44 | Sep 2014 | #48 | |
Vattel | Sep 2014 | #49 | |
PeaceNikki | Sep 2014 | #52 | |
liberal N proud | Sep 2014 | #55 | |
underpants | Sep 2014 | #59 | |
yuiyoshida | Sep 2014 | #61 |
Response to Jesus Malverde (Original post)
Sat Sep 13, 2014, 01:12 PM
cali (114,904 posts)
1. I didn't realize that the most common language outside of English and Spanish is German
In my state, French is the most common language other than English.
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Response to cali (Reply #1)
Sat Sep 13, 2014, 01:23 PM
Gormy Cuss (30,884 posts)
3. I think that's true in all of northern New England
Last edited Sat Sep 13, 2014, 02:54 PM - Edit history (1) and French is still far more common than Spanish even though many of the historic Francophone communities are losing that heritage rapidly. I know that in Maine small cities like Waterville, Lewiston, and Biddeford were predominantly French-bilingual 50 years ago, but that's not the case anymore. It's only in the historically French Canadian towns in northern Aroostook where that is true.
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Response to Gormy Cuss (Reply #3)
Sat Sep 13, 2014, 01:29 PM
merrily (45,251 posts)
6. Isn't the map showing Portuguese for Massachusetts? Or is Massachusetts not considered northern NE?
Response to merrily (Reply #6)
Sat Sep 13, 2014, 02:46 PM
Gormy Cuss (30,884 posts)
14. MA is southern New England.
VT, NH, ME= northern, MA, CT, RI = southern.
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Response to Gormy Cuss (Reply #14)
Sat Sep 13, 2014, 02:48 PM
merrily (45,251 posts)
15. Thanks. How would I know? I am a transplant to Massachusetts.
From NY and originally from NJ. So, the Deep South.
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Response to merrily (Reply #15)
Sat Sep 13, 2014, 02:52 PM
Gormy Cuss (30,884 posts)
19. Okay, that made me snort.
The Jersey shore must be THE Deep South.
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Response to Gormy Cuss (Reply #19)
Sun Sep 14, 2014, 04:27 AM
merrily (45,251 posts)
41. To get serious for a sec, I think there are parts of
New Jersey that are south of the Mason Dixon line. At least, that is what I read on this board once. I have not verified.
I always wished for a Southern accent, but you don't grow up with those in Jersey. Remember, though, the cast of the Jersey shore was not actually from the Jersey shore. And the cattle call for that show specified "Guidos and Guidettes." So, there was an agenda and that agenda was not to portray the "reality" of the Jersey shore. (I just googled historic photos of Jersey shore and got a very enjoyable slide show, made more enjoyable by my picturing the cast of the Jersey shore in Victorian times.) |
Response to merrily (Reply #41)
Sun Sep 14, 2014, 12:04 PM
Art_from_Ark (27,247 posts)
58. The Mason-Dixon line is the boundary between Pennsylvania and Maryland
so part of New Jersey is, indeed, south of it.
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Response to Art_from_Ark (Reply #58)
Sun Sep 14, 2014, 12:16 PM
merrily (45,251 posts)
60. Thank you! One less thing I need to verify on my own.
Response to cali (Reply #1)
Sat Sep 13, 2014, 02:20 PM
Cleita (75,480 posts)
10. When DH and I were traveling the States, we were amazed at all the little German
flavored towns across the nation, especially in Texas. It seems like Germany is where we got many of our European immigrants not England or Ireland as I once believed. I myself have a lot of German blood in me.
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Response to Cleita (Reply #10)
Sat Sep 13, 2014, 02:50 PM
merrily (45,251 posts)
16. So does Obama. Just a touch of Irish too.
Response to Cleita (Reply #10)
Sun Sep 14, 2014, 06:02 AM
Boom Sound 416 (4,185 posts)
46. Texas received a large amount of German POW's too
Response to cali (Reply #1)
Sat Sep 13, 2014, 02:39 PM
NutmegYankee (15,808 posts)
13. 53% of Americans can trace back to German heritage.
![]() Even our iconic food choices are of German origin. That we don't recognize this is one of the great cultural tragedies of the 20th Century. |
Response to NutmegYankee (Reply #13)
Sat Sep 13, 2014, 02:53 PM
merrily (45,251 posts)
20. Yes, but pasta and pizza are gaining fast.
At least, where I live!
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Response to NutmegYankee (Reply #13)
Sat Sep 13, 2014, 09:02 PM
adigal (7,581 posts)
26. I don't get the yellow? American?
Can you explain that?
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Response to adigal (Reply #26)
Sat Sep 13, 2014, 09:17 PM
AverageJoe90 (10,745 posts)
30. They're mostly Scots-Irish and Anglo, and descended from pioneers, from all I've read.....of those..
who describe themselves as "American", that is.
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Response to AverageJoe90 (Reply #30)
Sat Sep 13, 2014, 09:21 PM
adigal (7,581 posts)
31. Oh, thank you! I was confused. Duh! Nt
Response to adigal (Reply #26)
Sat Sep 13, 2014, 09:38 PM
NutmegYankee (15,808 posts)
36. People of British heritage who consider themselves the only true Americans
They are the residual colonists in the South/Appalachia. Rather than answer English or Scottish, they just call themselves American.
The USA was populated in waves. First the British across the colonies and Germans in Pennsylvania, then a massive influx of Germans who fled west in the early 1800s to populate the Midwest. Then came the Irish and Italian waves that populated the NYC and Boston regions. The high African American population in the South is an obvious legacy of slavery. The German's in Florida are the "snowbirds" moving South. My family is Pennsylvania German, both sides predating our Constitution and having served in the Continental army. |
Response to NutmegYankee (Reply #36)
Sun Sep 14, 2014, 02:20 PM
amandabeech (9,893 posts)
62. In the northern Midwest, there were many Scandinavians,
mostly Swedes and Norwegians, but also Finns and Danes.
I am partially of Swedish descent. |
Response to NutmegYankee (Reply #13)
Sun Sep 14, 2014, 12:37 AM
eppur_se_muova (35,365 posts)
40. A lot of Germans immigrated here after 1848 ...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revolutions_of_1848#German_states
... but there were some very politically liberal German settlers from the 1830's as well: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latin_Settlement It's surprising to find German settlers played such a prominent role in early Texas history, but if you head a little north-northwest of the Austin and San Antonio areas, you'll find a lot of towns named after Germans, including one named after a 19th-century feminist. http://www.visitfredericksburgtx.com/history/ |
Response to eppur_se_muova (Reply #40)
Sun Sep 14, 2014, 10:06 AM
Yupster (14,308 posts)
53. Germany fought three wars
They beat Denmark in 1864.
They beat Austria in 1866. They beat France in 1871. That was enough for many Germans including my great-great grandfather who was in the Prussian Army and left in the 1870's. He was part of a huge wave of German emigrants. |
Response to NutmegYankee (Reply #13)
Sun Sep 14, 2014, 09:52 AM
Cleita (75,480 posts)
50. Sad how few the Native Americans are in their own land. n/t
Response to Jesus Malverde (Original post)
Sat Sep 13, 2014, 01:20 PM
Scootaloo (25,699 posts)
2. Does that mean we lost WW2?! We're all speaking German!
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Response to Scootaloo (Reply #2)
Sat Sep 13, 2014, 01:29 PM
merrily (45,251 posts)
7. Even when we win, we lose.
I posted earlier today about The Mouse That Roared, a comedy based on that very premise.
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Response to Scootaloo (Reply #2)
Sat Sep 13, 2014, 02:15 PM
roody (10,847 posts)
9. And the Indo-China war.
Response to Scootaloo (Reply #2)
Sat Sep 13, 2014, 09:07 PM
Erich Bloodaxe BSN (14,733 posts)
27. It would have been interesting to see how America's participation
in the world wars might have been different, if we'd gone with German as our unofficial national language.
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Response to Scootaloo (Reply #2)
Sun Sep 14, 2014, 09:55 AM
Neoma (10,039 posts)
51. I heard somewhere that German was the 2nd language until WWII happened.
Then people stopped speaking it as much, but it's not surprising to see a residual connection from that era.
I think the German spoken now however, might mostly be from the Amish. |
Response to Jesus Malverde (Original post)
Sat Sep 13, 2014, 01:27 PM
merrily (45,251 posts)
4. Hi, Jesus.
I'm in Boston, MA.
You have to say "Boston proper" because a lot of people who live near Boston, like Newton or Needham or Brookline, tell people from out of state that they are in Boston or from Boston. So, I am in Boston proper. I personally never heard anyone in Massachusetts speaking Portuguese, except for a priest praying in Portuguese in Gloucester, MA, when I attended the Fisherman's Feast there. I do hear Italian and Spanish in Boston, though. (Boston's fishers were mostly from Sicily or of Sicilian origin, but no one fishes Boston harbor anymore.) Lots of nationalities represented in Massachusetts. In all the coastal states, I guess. I have spent my life in coastal states, so I really know nothing else. |
Response to merrily (Reply #4)
Sat Sep 13, 2014, 01:28 PM
cali (114,904 posts)
5. New Bedford area is where you'll here it. Or at least where you used to.
Response to cali (Reply #5)
Sat Sep 13, 2014, 01:31 PM
merrily (45,251 posts)
8. Also the North Shore, where I did hear it. The fishing communities.
I've never been to New Bedford. Guess I should check it out.
Then again, I didn't hear French Creole in Orlando, Miami or Miami Beach, FL, nor Vietnamese in San Antonio or Houston, TX. Or Tagalog anywhere in California. |
Response to cali (Reply #5)
Sat Sep 13, 2014, 02:29 PM
katmondoo (6,408 posts)
11. I was born in New Bedford and My parents came from there
They had a French section, A Polish section, and a Portuguese section with Catholic churches that spoke the language heard confessions in the language. Maybe others that I don't know about. The food was ethnic. The Kielbasa was the best in the Polish section along with the best corn bread ever. My Aunt used to visit us in New York with a suitcase full of Kielbasa and Bread. A real treat that may not be available anymore. Times have changed.
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Response to katmondoo (Reply #11)
Sat Sep 13, 2014, 02:56 PM
merrily (45,251 posts)
22. Guy Fieri (Diners, Drive Ins and Dives, Food Network) visited Cafe Polonia
not long ago for great Polish food in Massachusetts. I need to check it out.
I usually agree with his recommendations, but you need to try the dishes he recommends and I don't know which he recommended for that place. |
Response to merrily (Reply #4)
Sat Sep 13, 2014, 02:51 PM
Gormy Cuss (30,884 posts)
18. Until recently it was common to hear Portuguese in East Cambridge & Somerville e. of Union Square
Plus as you and others noted, in the coastal fishing communities especially in Bristol county (New Bedford.)
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Response to merrily (Reply #4)
Sat Sep 13, 2014, 03:32 PM
Tanuki (14,450 posts)
24. There is a large Brazilian population in Framingham and you would hear Portuguese there.
The Portuguese speakers in the MA coastal regions and islands tend to be from Cape Verde and the Azores.
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Response to Tanuki (Reply #24)
Sun Sep 14, 2014, 04:33 AM
merrily (45,251 posts)
42. A relative of my husband lives in Framingham, so I've been there, but
only to visit inside the home. So, I still missed out.
I should really make it a point to soak up some of that culture and eat some Portuguese food. It's a golden opportunity that I have been letting go by, except for the Fisherman's Feast. |
Response to Jesus Malverde (Original post)
Sat Sep 13, 2014, 02:32 PM
Tierra_y_Libertad (50,414 posts)
12. Profanity. Expecially when dealing with politicians or computers.
Response to Jesus Malverde (Original post)
Sat Sep 13, 2014, 02:50 PM
hifiguy (33,688 posts)
17. I suspect that Drunkenese
is a nationally-spoken language.
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Response to hifiguy (Reply #17)
Sun Sep 14, 2014, 04:34 AM
merrily (45,251 posts)
43. I do enjoy the drunk uncle character on SNL.
Response to Jesus Malverde (Original post)
Sat Sep 13, 2014, 02:55 PM
IDemo (16,926 posts)
21. I would bet there are more Basque speakers than German in Idaho
Last edited Sun Sep 14, 2014, 12:15 PM - Edit history (2) We have the largest Basque population outside of the Iberian peninsula and I have heard the language spoken many times over the 45 years I've lived here, including by Boise's Basque mayor Dave Bieter. I have never once heard a native German speaker (excepting of course the year my family lived in Germany over 50 years ago).
Edit for more info - The largest concentration of Basque Americans is in the Boise, Idaho, area, where approximately 15,000 Basque Americans live.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basque_diaspora#cite_note-13 There is zero chance that even a fraction of that many native Germans live here. This makes me think that anyone who made it through high school German or a tour of duty in Germany answered as such for the census. |
Response to Jesus Malverde (Original post)
Sat Sep 13, 2014, 03:24 PM
socialist_n_TN (11,481 posts)
23. This could be correct for Tennessee as a whole, but........
I would be willing to bet the third most spoken language in the Nashville area is Mandarin. And here I would put Kurdish as the fourth instead of German.
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Response to socialist_n_TN (Reply #23)
Sun Sep 14, 2014, 04:47 AM
merrily (45,251 posts)
44. That's impressive. Kurdish might not even be the 4th language of Iraq.
Some of my cousins grew up in Lebanon with an Armenian dad. They learned, in this order, Armenian, French, Arabic and English. They moved to Houston as adults and the two who worked in a hospital picked up Spanish, seemingly by osmosis. Sigh.
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Response to merrily (Reply #44)
Sun Sep 14, 2014, 11:58 AM
socialist_n_TN (11,481 posts)
56. Well, please understand I'm only going on personal experience, although.........
I have read where the Kurdish population of Nashville is the biggest in all of the USA.
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Response to socialist_n_TN (Reply #56)
Sun Sep 14, 2014, 12:03 PM
merrily (45,251 posts)
57. Relax. It's not that serious!
I am not going to invest my life savings in a Kurdish as a first language school in Nashville or anything. It was just interesting to find out you have a lot of Kurdish speakers in TN.
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Response to Jesus Malverde (Original post)
Sat Sep 13, 2014, 08:57 PM
delete_bush (1,712 posts)
25. This is an amazing graphic,
telling me that I need to once again brush up on some history. I mean, French is the 3rd most in W. Virginia?
Here's another interesting chart.... https://www.census.gov/dataviz/visualizations/045/ |
Response to Jesus Malverde (Original post)
Sat Sep 13, 2014, 09:09 PM
Louisiana1976 (3,962 posts)
28. Very interesting map. I didn't know Polish was the third most common language in Illinois.
But I did know there are a lot of Polish people in Chicago.
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Response to Louisiana1976 (Reply #28)
Sat Sep 13, 2014, 09:22 PM
PeaceNikki (27,985 posts)
32. North side of Chicago south side Milwaukee have a lot of Polish people.
We had a row of ten at work whose names all ended "ski".
It was an unintentional coincidence. |
Response to Jesus Malverde (Original post)
Sat Sep 13, 2014, 09:10 PM
Erich Bloodaxe BSN (14,733 posts)
29. Makes sense to me.
I had something like six years of German in school. Our SW Ohio school system offered it from 7th grade through 12th, iirc, plus it was the obvious choice for the college language requirement.
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Response to Jesus Malverde (Original post)
Sat Sep 13, 2014, 09:25 PM
treestar (81,515 posts)
33. How are they asking?
I would think in Delaware there would be far more Chinese or Hindi or Vietnamese speakers than French. I have never met a French immigrant. Are they including people who think they speak it due to studying it?
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Response to treestar (Reply #33)
Sat Sep 13, 2014, 09:30 PM
PeaceNikki (27,985 posts)
34. it's census data
https://www.census.gov/history/www/through_the_decades/index_of_questions/2000_1.html
What is this person's ancestry or ethnic origin? Does this person speak a language other than English at home? What is this language? How well does this person speak English? |
Response to PeaceNikki (Reply #34)
Sat Sep 13, 2014, 09:34 PM
treestar (81,515 posts)
35. thank you
Holy crap!
Maybe on second thought it is immigrants from Haiti. More numerous than I thought. Plus some immigrants from Quebec. Can't be French people! |
Response to Jesus Malverde (Original post)
Sat Sep 13, 2014, 09:39 PM
Aerows (39,961 posts)
37. Most definitely French in mine
We likely have more Francophones than those that speak Spanish.
ETA: I see LA has more Fracophones, but MS is probably gaining as more Cajuns move our way. |
Response to Jesus Malverde (Original post)
Sat Sep 13, 2014, 09:45 PM
tblue37 (59,473 posts)
38. Interesting. My father's parents came here in the early 20th century
from Sicily and settled in Northeastern Pennsylvania, where Grandpa found work in the coal mines, along with most of the other immigrants from the part of Sicily that he and his relatives came from. (I see that Italian wins in Pennsylvania.)
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Response to Jesus Malverde (Original post)
Sat Sep 13, 2014, 09:50 PM
Aerows (39,961 posts)
39. As an aside
I lived in Lafayette, LA for a while and there are places where you can call to ask for someone and they answer in French.
It's a tribute to their resilience as a community because there was a severe campaign in the 60's through the 80's to punish french speaking children at school. |
Response to Jesus Malverde (Original post)
Sun Sep 14, 2014, 07:22 AM
kelliekat44 (7,759 posts)
47. Hmm. German. That explains a lot about US social issues. nt
Response to kelliekat44 (Reply #47)
Sun Sep 14, 2014, 10:24 AM
Jackpine Radical (45,274 posts)
54. Yeah, those damn German socialists…
One hundred years ago tomorrow, Milwaukee made political history. On April 5, 1910, we became the first (and only) major city in America to elect a Socialist mayor. A former patternmaker named Emil Seidel won a decisive victory in the spring election, beginning a period of Socialist success at the polls that would last until Frank Zeidler stepped down in 1960.
To those outside the city, Seidel's win seemed positively revolutionary, a bold and abrupt departure from the American norm. The truth is that municipal Socialism had been germinating here for generations. It mattered, first of all, that Milwaukee was the most German city in America and that some of its residents were genuine revolutionaries. An 1848 revolt against the German monarchs had ended in victory for the crowned set and exile for thousands of rebels, many of them well-educated idealists who wanted nothing less than to change the world. A significant number of these "Forty-Eighters" found their way to Milwaukee, where they established music societies, theater groups, schools and other organizations that made their new home the "German Athens" of America. The exiles were as passionate about politics as they were about culture. Their Turner halls and freethinker congregations became forums for ideas that would come to life as Milwaukee Socialism. http://www.jsonline.com/news/opinion/89804422.html |
Response to Jesus Malverde (Original post)
Sun Sep 14, 2014, 07:24 AM
kelliekat44 (7,759 posts)
48. I see my State-Department friend was right about the hidden resettlement programs between 1970-1990.
Response to Jesus Malverde (Original post)
Sun Sep 14, 2014, 07:29 AM
Vattel (9,289 posts)
49. I am surprised that Chinese doesn't have a bigger presence on this map
Response to Vattel (Reply #49)
Sun Sep 14, 2014, 10:00 AM
PeaceNikki (27,985 posts)
52. Or Hmong
Hmong Americans are the largest Asian ethnic group in the state of Wisconsin
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Response to Jesus Malverde (Original post)
Sun Sep 14, 2014, 11:46 AM
liberal N proud (59,800 posts)
55. I would think a Slovak language for Ohio
Or another eastern European language.
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Response to Jesus Malverde (Original post)
Sun Sep 14, 2014, 12:06 PM
underpants (176,774 posts)
59. Bookmarking very interesting.
Response to Jesus Malverde (Original post)
Sun Sep 14, 2014, 12:41 PM
yuiyoshida (40,725 posts)
61. Wow, I am impressed with all the Asian languges ...
I would have thought California would have far more Chinese, as I grew up with mostly Chinese kids, while there were some Vietnamese, and Filipino.. but across the country to see Korean, and Vietnamese ..and HMONG!! wow. I have a few friends who are Hmong.. and they are great!
This also amazes me why in high school they never taught Japanese, Tagalog, Mandarin, as a subject. It was always German, Spanish, Latin and French. I wanted to learn an Asian language, but My parents and their parents spoke English. (Family originally came from Hawaii.. I may even have some native Hawaiian roots.) |