The Slow Death of English in California?

The L.A. Times reports that nearly 43% of residents of California speak a language other than English at home, according to data released Wednesday by the U.S. Census Bureau. The trend was even more pronounced in Los Angeles, the so-called Latino Metropolis, where more than 53% of residents speak another language at home. Heavily Latino East Los Angeles (90.9%) and the San Gabriel Valley (several cities over 70%) had even higher rates. Spanish is by far the most common, but Californians also converse in Korean, Thai, Russian, Hmong, Armenian and dozens of other languages. The data will likely add fuel to the decades-long debate in California over immigrants continuing to use their native tongue. There have been battles over bilingual education, foreign-language ballots and English-only restrictions on business signs.

KJ