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From ‘Tudo bem?’ to ‘Gracias,’ a growing share of US residents speak a language other than English
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FILE - Instructor Vito Susca shares a laugh with his English as a Second Language class at the Fort Bend Literacy Council in Sugar Land, Texas, Monday, June 19, 2017. - photo by Steve Gonzales /Houston Chronicle via AP, file
Spanish may be the most spoken language at home behind English, except in three U.S. states, but the second most-popular, non-English languages used in each state show off the diversity of the United States in unexpected places, whether it's Korean in Alabama or Vietnamese in Kansas. Almost 22% of U.S. residents age 5 and older spoke a language other than English at home, double the share from four decades ago, according to figures released Tuesday by the U.S. Census Bureau, and it varied by state. In California, 44% of residents spoke a language other than English at home, while it was 2.5% in West Virginia.