This map of dominant languages in the U.S. handed me some major surprises. How about you?

I like this map. Some were surprises and some weren’t.

Not surprising:
– A lot of the New England speaks French.
– Many states in the Midwest have a lot of German speakers. I actually used to joke as we would drive from Memphis to Wisconsin that party way through Missouri stores and restaurants would all of a sudden be lots and lots of German names, and I would say we have left the South and now are in Midwest.
– Florida Haitian (Creole).
– New York Chinese. It would not surprise me if a lot of other languages were right behind Chinese.
– Michigan Arabic. Michigan has the largest Arab population in the country.
– Chinese in California and Washington.
– Aleut in Alaska.
– Japanese in Hawaii.
– French in Louisana.

Surprising
– Hmong Minnesota.
– French in North Carolina.
– Vietnamese in Texas.
– Russian in Oregon.

I think a map from 20 years ago might not have been much different in the majority of the states, but 40 years ago probably significantly different.

I wonder what drew the Vietnamese to be in TX?

Maryland was French, which I would not have guessed, but many Diplomats live in Maryland and French was, and maybe still is, one of the popular diplomatic languages.

I wonder if the Portuguese speakers in Utah are Mormon?

Pennsylvania I would have guessed German or Italian, but not totally shocking that it is Chinese.

I wonder how the numbers of speakers of these other languages in different states compare to the numbers of speakers of Spanish. It would not surprise me if the numbers of speakers of Spanish are greater by a factor of at least 10.

^^I would bet money that’s the case in Florida. Florida is something like 23% Spanish speaking. Miami-Dade County is 70% Hispanic!

Plus, in a lot of the states the 3rd, 4th, and 5th ranked languages might be not far apart. (Using English and Spanish as 1st and 2nd).

So interesting. Vietnamese in Texas and Oklahoma?! I had no idea.

Thanks!

PBS had a documentary about a Vietnamese family in Texas. I think one of the family members was accused of a crime he didn’t commit – this was decades ago that the crime was committed. The documentary talked about the Vietnamese community in Texas. The Vietnamese that came here and settled in Texas became fishermen, because the conditions were similar to conditions in Vietnam – the heat, the ocean, the fishing for shrimp, etc. I’ll see if I can link it.

As for Hmong in Minnesota, during the last summer Olympics, there wass a gymnastics competitor who was Hmong. She was from Minnesota and there were a bunch of news spots about her family and the Hmong community in MN. Apparently it’s the biggest Hmong community outside of their country of origin.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Vietnamese_Americans_in_Houston

Reel South, PBS: https://www.reelsouth.org/documentaries/seadrift

History of the Hmong in Minnesota:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Hmong_in_Minneapolis%E2%80%93Saint_Paul

The problem is that it isn’t granular enough.

Spanish is just an agglomeration of related, but not identical languages. It can include:
American Spanish
Cuban dialect
Caribbean Spanish.
Salvadoran dialect
Dominican dialect
Mexican dialect

and several tens of others. A person speaking Mexican Spanish isn’t always understood by an Argentinian, for example.

So right off the bat, I think the basis of the map is bogus.

Having said that, Georgia (Korean as the 3rd most heard language) is probably correct. There are a ton of Koreans here. And after that, Viet Namese, and after that, Russian and east european emigres.

We also have a ton of Vietnamese in Missouri. They tend to form communities, which I love, as they welcome you in but maintain their language and culture-to a degree.
Usually the coasters come for Marian Days in Carthage, Mo for a huge gathering of all clans every year. Its really fun, a reunion/ camp out/religious festival. People also look for marriage partners.