R Notebook

English Proficiency of Spanish Speakers in the United States

While English is the most spoken language in the United States of America, Spanish has been on the rise for several decades. Spanish translations can be seen in public transportion signs, movies, and product manuals. As a result, English proficiency, while beneficial, is not absolutely necessary for residents in the United States. In addition, services such as Google Translate enable interactions between English and non-English speakers. The popularity of the Spanish language, along with the advancements in natural language processing, have made it possible for many Spanish speakers to live, commute, work, and socialize in the United States with little English proficiency.

Population in New Jersey

The map above looks at each New Jersey county and distinguishes them according to population. Bergen County,Essex County and Middlesex County are the top three most populated counties in the state. Heavily populated areas tend to be the ones with the most cultural diversity.

The graph above looks at NJ’s foreign-born population. This graph particularly focuses on those who were born in South American counties. The highest population represented comes from Colombia, while Bolivia has the lowest population in the state. Although the survey responders were born in these countries, it does not necessarily mean that English is not their native language or that they speak Spanish as their first language. This graph soley intends to take a rough look at the foreign-born Spanish-speaking population in New Jersey and determine if any patterns emerge in the next graph, which looks at the US foreign-born population. In addition, the graph does not include any Central American countries, as its intention is to focus on South America.

United States Population Statistics

In the graph above we can see that some of the patterns from the previous graph remain pretty consistant. The Colombian population remains the highest in the country, while Peru and Ecuador remain in the top three. Bolivia and Chile remain on the lower end of the spectrum, while Uruguay becomes the country with the least population in the US. These findings are pretty consistent with the overall populations of the countries themselves. Colombia has a population of over 49 million, while Uruguay has only about 3 million.

The graph above takes a look at Spanish Speakers in the five states with the highest Spanish population. The pink portion of the graph demonstrates the amount of people who report speaking English “not very well” while the blue portion represents the amount of people who report speaking English “very well”. While it may seem that California has a much higher percentage of people who do not speak english very well, this graph is somewhat skewed due to the much higher population in California.

Although there are over 3 million Spanish-Speaking people in California who report having a low English Proficiency, the ratio of low proficiency to overall population of foreign born speakers is fairly consistent throughout all five states. Roughly anywhere from 63 - 71% of the Spanish-Speaking population in these states reports a low English proficiency.

When looking at the states with the lowest numbers of Spanish-Speakers, the percentages change. The amount of people who report speaking English very well increases from about 30% to an average of 40%, (with Vermont having over 65% of the population speaking English very well). This could potentially mean that when Spanish-speakers are not residing in a state with a large hispanic population, there is a stronger need to become proficient in English in order to interact with the community. While this may not be true for South Dakota, the number of immigrants here is the lowest of all the states, so there may be a lack of data contributed to the census from this sector.

A closer look..

Here we take a closer look at New Jersey’s Spanish-Speaking population. The left map takes a look at each county and how each Spanish-Speaking resident reported their English proficiency. The counties in a lighter blue shade have higher proficiency, while the darker counties have a lower English proficiency. None of the counties in New Jersey report over 60% English proficiency – which aligns with the findings from the previous look at New Jersey, where about 32% of the Spanish-Speaking residents speak English “very well”. This once again demonstates that in a state such as New Jersey, where there is a high population of Spanish speaking immigrants, English proficiency is not prevalent.

Conclusion

In the United States, Spanish is the second most popular language after English. As a result, there are many resources available to Spanish speakers. In states with higher populations of Spanish speakers, approximately 30% report a high English proficiency. In the states with the lowest population of Spanish speakers, there is approximately a 10% increase in English proficiency among Spanish speakers. These areas with low Spanish-speaking populations may not have a strong need to accomodate this group through Spanish translations and even Spanish customer service options. As a result, the Spanish speakers in these areas might feel a stronger urge to learn English in order to communicate with their community.