New Census Data on Language Lift Up the Importance of Language Access for Asian Americans
By Zaria Guignard, Census and Civic Engagement Manager
Asian Americans are the only racial or ethnic group that is majority foreign born; 65% of the Asian American community was born outside of the United States. Considering this fact, many Asian Americans are a part of the language minority community, a group of people who speak a language that is different from the dominant or majority language in the country. About 3 out of every 4 Asian Americans speak a language other than English at home and almost one third of the population is limited English proficient (LEP), meaning they speak English less than “very well.” The Census Bureau’s newly released American Community Survey data on Detailed Languages Spoken at Home and the Ability to Speak English show a detailed breakdown of the number of Asian language speakers and limited English proficiency rates. The new data uplift the importance of language access for Asian American communities especially in the wake of Executive Order (EO)14224 Designating English as the Official Language of The United States.
According to the data collected in 2021, the top ten Asian Languages spoken at home are Chinese (dialect not specified), Tagalog, Vietnamese, Korean, Hindi, Mandarin Chinese, Yue Chinese, Urdu, Japanese, and Gujarati. While these languages are the most commonly spoken languages within the Asian American community, some of these communities have relatively low LEP rates. Of the 10 languages listed, only three languages Vietnamese, Yue Chinese, and Chinese (dialect not specified) are included in the top 10 Asian American subgroups with the highest LEP rates.
Comparing 2021 data to 2013 data, we can see the changes in the number of speakers and the community’s LEP rates over the last eight years. The number of Chinese speakers living in the United States grew 13% (1,867,485 to 2,115,000) between 2013 and 2021. Similar to the growth of the number of speakers, the number of LEP Chinese speakers grew 8% (1,054,885 to 1,138,000) from 2013 to 2021. Unlike the Chinese language community, the Korean language community saw a decrease in both number of speakers and LEP speakers. While the number of Korean speakers decreased by 3%, the number of LEP speakers decreased by 10%. In 2013 there were 1,117,343 speakers and 617,905 LEP speakers, 2021 data show us that there are now 1,086,000 Korean speakers and 554,500 LEP speakers.
While Chinese speakers are the largest specific Asian language population, Kirghiz is the fastest growing Asian language population which saw a 250% increase (550 to 1,923) in the number of speakers from 2013 to 2021. Nepali followed with a 110% increase (94,220 to 198,300) in the number of speakers. These communities also saw increases in the number of LEP speakers: Kirghiz saw a 320% increase (350 to 1,282) in the number of LEP speakers from 2013 to 2021, while Nepali LEP speakers saw an increase of 77% (56,650 to 100,000) from 2013 to 2021. These pieces of data are incredibly important to better understand a language population’s needs, as the lack of language access could impact their healthcare, civic engagement, and daily life.
On March 25, 2025, President Trump signed the Executive Order (EO)14224 Designating English as the Official Language of The United States. President Trump’s EO revokes Executive Order 13166 from the Clinton administration, Improving Access to Services for Persons With Limited English Proficiency . President Clinton’s EO 13166 required federal agencies to develop plans and systems to provide government services to those who have difficulty speaking English to ensure LEP communities could access services provided by the federal government. Effective language access for AANHPI communities “requires more than just translating materials; it means an investment to provide culturally competent access.” Having bilingual front-line staff who understand the needs of the community is integral to reaching and communicating with AANHPI populations. Our communities also need increased access to properly trained interpreters — it is unacceptable to have adults rely on children to interpret sensitive or complicated information, such as health concerns at doctor visits. Additionally, our communities must be able to access these services in a timely manner. President Clinton’s EO 13166 pushed government agencies to formulate language access plans and make such investments, and our communities now will suffer under its revocation.
While Executive Order 14224 states it does not require or direct any agencies to “amend, remove, or otherwise stop production of documents, products, or other services prepared or offered in languages other than English,” it has already limited access to resources in non-English languages. For example, lep.gov was a website developed by the Department of Justice (DOJ) to help federal agencies and recipients of federal funds provide language assistance to people with limited English proficiency. It served as a resource hub offering tools and technical assistance on complying with EO 13166. Since the release of President Trump’s EO the DOJ has suspended the operations of lep.gov, pending an internal review and further guidance from the administration. The federal government should be working to expand language access to enable more Americans to access government resources and fully participate in our society, not roll them back and limit access.
Furthermore, EO 14224 cannot unilaterally revoke language access laws, including section 203 and 208 of the Voting Rights Act, which guarantee — by law — language assistance for LEP voters at the polls. Section 203 requires certain counties and jurisdictions to provide bilingual voting assistance in communities with large numbers of language minorities and LEP citizens for specific language groups. Section 208 allows voters needing assistance because of blindness, disability, or the inability to read or write, including voters who have difficulty with English, to bring someone (who is not their employer or union representative) into the voting booth to help them understand and cast a ballot.
There are currently 8 Asian language groups covered by section 203 covering 53 Asian American populations located in 32 counties, boroughs, census areas or cities. The language groups include Asian Indian, Bangladeshi, Cambodian, Chinese, Filipino, Hmong, Korean, and Vietnamese. After the last determination in 2021, Hmong was added as a covered language. You can see which jurisdictions and languages are close to meeting the Section 203 threshold and may very well meet the threshold during the next determinations scheduled for 2026 by looking at the just missed jurisdictions and languages factsheet. The new data on detailed languages spoken at home and the ability to speak English indicate the importance of Section 203 protections and the updates coming in 2026.
Unfortunately, the current administration is attacking and moving back decades of language access progress. Considering this, Asian Americans Advancing Justice — AAJC will continue to advocate for language assistance and services that are linguistically appropriate and culturally competent across all federal agencies.
Since 2012 Advancing Justice — AAJC has been providing language assistance to voters through our voter hotline 1–888-API-VOTE (274–8683). You can find Advancing Justice — AAJC language access resources for voters by visiting our website at www.advancingjustice-aajc.org/language-rights-voting — cpguides.
