Tagalog is Now the Second Most Spoken Foreign Language in California

July 11, 2017

Tagalog, a native language in the Philippines, in now the most common foreign language in California after Spanish, a recent study revealed.

According to the findings of 24/7 Wall St, 832,024 Californians speak the language at home, which accounts for 2.1 % of the state’s population, reports CBS LA.

The study, which is based on the data from the United States Census Bureau’s 2015 American Consumer Survey, identified the most commonly spoken foreign language in different American states.

Researchers, however, excluded Spanish since it is already recognized as the most commonly spoken foreign language in almost every state.

Interestingly, Tagalog is not only widely used in California, it is also the most commonly spoken foreign language after Spanish in Washington and Nevada.

Tagalog, an Austronesian language, is the first language of a quarter of the Philippine population and used as a second language by most Filipinos. The language ‘Filipino’, which is Tagalog’s standardized form, is officially the country’s national language, along with English.

The study further stated that overall, German is the most commonly spoken language in the U.S. after English and Spanish, with the language being the spoken the most in 11 states. Vietnamese comes second, which is most commonly spoken in seven states, while Chinese ranks third, being most popular in six states after English and Spanish.

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