Describe a Chart: Most Spoken Home Languages

Dr. Linh Phung shares with you a model response she wrote to describe the chart below. The Eduling Speak app has model responses like this and lessons that break down the responses for you. Stay tuned for the publication of a writing course on IELTS Writing Task 1.

This chart shows the most frequently spoken home languages in the U.S., other than English, by age, nativity, and citizenship, according to the U.S. Census Bureau in 2019. The most common languages include Spanish, Chinese, Tagalog, Vietnamese, and Arabic.

When different age groups are examined, the majority of speakers of these languages fall into the 20-39 and 40-59 age groups. Notably, Tagalog, Chinese, and Vietnamese have relatively large proportions (over 20%) of speakers aged 60 and older. In contrast, Spanish and Arabic are spoken by a larger percentage of young speakers (ages 5-14) compared to the other three languages.

Regarding nativity and citizenship, nearly 60% of Spanish speakers were native-born in the U.S. while most speakers of Chinese, Tagalog, Vietnamese, and Arabic are naturalized citizens, i.e. immigrants who were not born in the U.S. but later became U.S. citizens. Among these four languages, Tagalog and Vietnamese have the highest percentages of naturalized citizens, around 60% of their speakers.

Overall, it can be said that most speakers of the five most common home languages in the U.S. (besides English) are between the ages of 20 and 59 and are naturalized citizens, with the exception of Spanish, which is spoken by a large percentage of native-born citizens.

Source: https://www.census.gov/library/stories/2022/12/languages-we-speak-in-united-states.html