English is the most commonly used language of the United States, but there are more than 300 languages spoken in the country.
Even though English (more precisely, American English) is not recognised as an official language at the federal level, it is widely understood to be the de facto national language of the United States. A large majority of Americans (roughly 78.5%) only speak English at home, making it the most widely spoken language in the country.
There are many languages spoken in homes across the United States besides Spanish (spoken by 13.2% of the population), as revealed by the American Community Survey (ACS) conducted by the United States Census Bureau. Both indigenous languages and those brought to the United States by immigrants from Europe, Africa, and Asia are included here. However, most speakers of these languages are also proficient in English. Only 8.2% of the population has difficulty with English, even though 21.5% of Americans report speaking a language other than English at home.
In common speech, all citizens of the United States of America refer to themselves as Americans. Different languages use a variety of terms to refer to American citizens. The word “American” refers to a citizen or permanent resident of the United States of America and comes from the country’s formal name, “United States of America.”
FAQs
Although there is no federally recognised language in the United States, English (more specifically, American English) is widely recognised as the de facto national language. As a bonus, the majority of Americans only speak English at home.
The second most spoken language in U.S.A. is Spanish.
