{"id":87,"date":"2023-10-21T20:30:18","date_gmt":"2023-10-21T20:30:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ata-divisions.org\/GovD\/?p=87"},"modified":"2023-10-21T20:36:40","modified_gmt":"2023-10-21T20:36:40","slug":"how-you-can-use-data-census-gov-to-identify-language-needs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ata-divisions.org\/GovD\/how-you-can-use-data-census-gov-to-identify-language-needs\/","title":{"rendered":"How You Can Use data.census.gov to Identify Language Needs"},"content":{"rendered":"

On August 11, 2000, Executive Order 13166, \u201cImproving Access to Services for Persons with Limited\u00a0English Proficiency,\u201d directed each federal agency to \u201cexamine the services it provides and develop and\u00a0implement a system by which LEP persons can meaningfully access those services consistent with, and\u00a0without unduly burdening, the fundamental mission of the agency.\u201d Under the executive order, federal\u00a0agencies are responsible for providing Limited English Proficiency (LEP) individuals and\/or the\u00a0communities they serve with meaningful access to information and materials.<\/p>\n

Most federal, state and local governments facilitate access to services for limited-English-speaking communities by translating public-facing information and documents. Government employees and contractors who work and advise on these translation efforts must be familiar with the needs of their intended audience. Deciding which languages to support is a critical first step.<\/p>\n

This blog post will discuss a Census Bureau resource you can use to help identify the language needs in a given geographical area within the United States. The Census Bureau\u2019s American Community Survey collects information each year about if a person speaks a language other than English at home, what language he\/she speaks, and how well he\/she speaks English to create statistics about language and the ability to speak English.<\/p>\n

Local, state, tribal, and federal agencies use language data to plan government programs for adults and children who self-identify as not speaking English well. These data are also used to ensure that information about public health, law, regulations, voting, and safety is communicated in languages that community members understand. Businesses and non-profits also use these data to identify communities that need their services or would like to purchase their products in a specific language. For example, a non-profit that serves recent immigrant communities may use these data to learn what languages are most commonly spoken by limited-English-speaking households in their city or state.<\/p>\n

You can find more information about question wording and the data here: Language Spoken at Home | American Community Survey | U.S. Census Bureau<\/a>. You can use data about the languages people speak<\/a>, such as the language data available at data.census.gov<\/a>, consult experts, or research what similar organizations are doing. While there are many tables you may find useful, take a look at B16002 \u201cDetailed Household Language by Household Limited English Speaking Status\u201d<\/a> to find information about households where no member of a household 14 years old and over (1) speaks only English or (2) speaks a non-English language and speaks English \u201cvery well\u201d (i.e. all household members 14 years old and over have at least some difficulty with English).
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Once the table is open, you can click on the \u201cFilters\u201d icon and use the \u201cGeography\u201d filters to select a specific geographic area and view your results:<\/p>\n

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For example, the screenshot below has \u201cState\u201d and \u201cGeorgia\u201d selected to see the data from this table in that geography:<\/p>\n

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You can then look at the table and see how the numbers have changed to display data for the state of Georgia:\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

For additional help navigating the data, check out Census Academy<\/a> for instructional videos, tips and tricks. Also, don\u2019t forget to review our guidance from the 2020 Census Language Program: Developing Public-Facing Language Products (census.gov)<\/a>. This publication covers best practices and lessons learned from the 2020 Census.<\/p>\n

For the 2020 Census, the Census Bureau built a language program that was a significant expansion of previous censuses. The program provided an opportunity for people to respond online or over the phone in English and 12 languages other than English. Respondents also had access to video and print guides in English and 59 languages other than English. These materials supported the language needs of over 99 percent of all U.S. households. For languages beyond these 59 supported languages, we provided a template of the language guides to help communities create additional versions of the guides in their own language.<\/p>\n

Our audience for 2020 Census language support was households with language need\u2014those that may experience language barriers and need support to complete the 2020 Census. To identify language needs, we used estimates of limited-English-speaking households in the United States from the American Community Survey (ACS). After monitoring these data throughout the decade, the final list of languages was created using tabulations of languages spoken by at least 2,000 limited-English-speaking households nationally. The national list was also compared with regional and state-level data to ensure top language needs for each region and state were addressed.<\/p>\n

Let GovD know what you think of the data you can find at data.census.gov<\/a>!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On August 11, 2000, Executive Order 13166, \u201cImproving Access to Services for Persons with Limited\u00a0English Proficiency,\u201d directed each federal agency to \u201cexamine the services it provides and develop and\u00a0implement a system by which LEP persons can meaningfully access those services consistent with, and\u00a0without unduly burdening, the fundamental mission of the agency.\u201d Under the executive order, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-87","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-uncategorized","7":"entry","8":"has-post-thumbnail"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ata-divisions.org\/GovD\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ata-divisions.org\/GovD\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ata-divisions.org\/GovD\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ata-divisions.org\/GovD\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ata-divisions.org\/GovD\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=87"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/ata-divisions.org\/GovD\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":95,"href":"https:\/\/ata-divisions.org\/GovD\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87\/revisions\/95"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ata-divisions.org\/GovD\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=87"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ata-divisions.org\/GovD\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=87"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ata-divisions.org\/GovD\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=87"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}