VOA文化艺术2023 五分之一的美国家庭说英语之外的第二语言

1-in-5 in US Homes Speaks a Second Language after English

五分之一的美国家庭说英语之外的第二语言

The U.S. Census¹ Bureau reports that the number of people in the United States who speak a language other than English at home increased by three times between 1980 and 2019.

美国人口普查局报告称，1980年至2019年间，美国在家中说英语以外语言的人数增加了三倍。

About one in five people in America speak a second language at home. That is 68 million people.

在美国，大约五分之一的人在家里说第二语言。大约有6800万人。

Arabic among top five

前五名中的阿拉伯语

Dina Arid² of California, who is the mother of three children, is one of them. She grew up speaking Arabic at home. She said it is true that the country is "a melting pot," a place where many cultures come together.

加利福尼亚州的迪娜·阿里德是三个孩子的母亲，也是其中之一。她在家里说阿拉伯语长大。她说，这个国家的确是一个“大熔炉”，一个多种文化汇聚的地方。

Arabic is one of the five most-spoken second languages in the U.S. Arid speaks mostly English to her children and is trying to teach them a little Arabic.

阿拉伯语是美国最常用的五种第二语言之一，阿里德对孩子们说的大多是英语，并试图教他们一点阿拉伯语。

She said some of her cousins "didn't get to learn Arabic." They "always wished that their parents spoke³ to them in Arabic more so that they have that language," she noted⁴.

她说，她的一些表亲“没有学过阿拉伯语”。她说，他们“总是希望父母多用阿拉伯语和他们说话，这样他们就有了阿拉伯语。”。

Spanish is most common second language

西班牙语是最常见的第二语言

Spanish is the most popular second language in the United States. More than 41 million people — about 12 times more than the other most common second languages — speak Spanish at home. Hispanics are the largest minority group in the United States. Fifty-five percent of Spanish speakers were born in the United States.

西班牙语是美国最流行的第二语言。超过4100万人在家说西班牙语，大约是其他最常见的第二语言的12倍。西班牙裔是美国最大的少数群体。55%的西班牙语使用者出生在美国。

The other languages in the top five are Chinese, Tagalog and Vietnamese.

排名前五的其他语言是汉语、菲律宾语和越南语。

Returning to help in family's homeland

回到家乡帮助

Jenny Nguyen is studying dentistry in Virginia. Her parents emigrated from Vietnam, so they spoke both English and Vietnamese at home. "I would speak English at school during the day and at night I would only speak Vietnamese just so I could keep the language, Nguyen says. "When I was younger, I didn't understand the importance, but I think now I'm very glad that I'm able to speak and write at such a proficient⁵ level."

Jenny Nguyen在弗吉尼亚州学习牙科。她的父母从越南移民，所以他们在家里说英语和越南语。阮说：“我白天会在学校说英语，晚上只会说越南语，这样我才能记得这种语言。年轻时，我不明白这一点的重要性，但我想现在我很高兴自己能够如此熟练地说和写。"

She was able to put her language skills to use when she traveled to Vietnam to offer free dental care to poor communities. Many of her co-workers there were also Vietnamese Americans.

当她前往越南为贫困社区提供免费牙科护理时，她能够运用自己的语言技能。她在那里的许多同事也是越南裔美国人。

"They couldn't really communicate with the patients," Nguyen says. "I was one of the very few young volunteers that were able to speak with the patients and communicate with them what was going on."

Nguyen说：“他们无法真正与患者沟通。”。“我是为数不多的年轻志愿者之一，他们能够与患者交谈，并与他们交流正在发生的事情。”

Secret language

秘密语言

Cathy Erway is a food writer based in New York City. Erway is using a language application to improve her ability in her mother's native Mandarin⁶ Chinese. She said her parents used Chinese between them to talk secretly when their young children were listening.

凯西·埃尔韦是纽约市的一位美食作家。埃尔韦正在使用一种语言应用程序来提高她母亲的母语普通话能力。她说，她的父母在孩子们听的时候，会在他们之间用汉语偷偷交谈。

The Census Bureau reports that the number of people who spoke only English at home also increased – by about 25 percent – during the same period.

人口普查局报告称，同一时期，在家只说英语的人数也增加了约25%。

Words in This Story

cousin – n. a child of your uncle or aunt (your parent's sister or brother's child)

表亲，表亲--你叔叔或阿姨的孩子（你父母的姐姐或哥哥的孩子）

emigrate – v. to leave a country or region to live elsewhere

移民--to leave a country or region to live elsewhere 离开一个国家或地区到其他地方生活

proficient – adj. good at doing something; skillful

精通的--擅长做某事的；熟练的

application –n. a computer program that mainly does one task

应用程序–主要完成一项任务的计算机程序

1 census   

n.(官方的)人口调查，人口普查

参考例句：

• A census of population is taken every ten years.人口普查每10年进行一次。
• The census is taken one time every four years in our country.我国每四年一次人口普查。

2 arid   

adj.干旱的；(土地)贫瘠的

参考例句：

• These trees will shield off arid winds and protect the fields.这些树能挡住旱风,保护农田。
• There are serious problems of land degradation in some arid zones.在一些干旱地带存在严重的土地退化问题。

3 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

4 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

5 proficient   

adj.熟练的，精通的；n.能手，专家

参考例句：

• She is proficient at swimming.她精通游泳。
• I think I'm quite proficient in both written and spoken English.我认为我在英语读写方面相当熟练。

6 Mandarin   

n.中国官话，国语，满清官吏；adj.华丽辞藻的

参考例句：

• Just over one billion people speak Mandarin as their native tongue.大约有十亿以上的人口以华语为母语。
• Mandarin will be the new official language of the European Union.普通话会变成欧盟新的官方语言。