language trends

[Benjamin Rifkin]

Dear SEELANGers:

I append below the full text of a short article in the New York Times
about language trends.  I believe this may be important for those of
us in the US arguing for more support for heritage language teaching.
Note the reference to Russian in the article.

Sincerely,

Ben Rifkin

New York Times - 10 October 2003 - p. A19

WHAT'S BEING SPOKEN AT HOME  Nearly one in five Americans say they
speak a language other than English at home, the Census Bureau
reported.  Most of those people say they speak Spanish at home,
followed by Chinese, French and German. The number of Americans who
say they speak Russian increased the most during the last decade,
nearly tripling to more than 700,000.  Census officials said the
spike in Russian speakers reflected an overall rise in Russian
immigration since the fall of the Soviet Union.  In 2000, about 18
percent of the population aged 5 and older, or about 47 million
people, said they spoke a language other than English at home -- up
from 14 percent, or nearly 32 million in 1990.
--
=================
Benjamin Rifkin

Professor and Chair, Slavic Dept., UW-Madison
1432 Van Hise Hall, 1220 Linden Dr.
Madison, WI  53706 USA
voice: 608/262-1623; fax: 608/265-2814
http://polyglot.lss.wisc.edu/slavic
http://polyglot.lss.wisc.edu/slavic/rifkin

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