Census bureau data shows almost one-third of New York residents over 5 spoke a language besides English at home 

Nearly one-third of New York residents who are 5 or older spoke a language  other than English at home over a five-year span, the U.S. Census Bureau said Tuesday.

Educational experts contend this figure highlights the need for a greater embrace of multilingualism in education in a globalized world, even as the Trump administration has pushed for English to be the official language in the United States.

"Overall, I think this multilingualism is not going to go away," said Xiao-lei Wang, dean at the Ruth S. Ammon College of Education and Health Sciences at Adelphi University. "It's not only not going to go away, it's going to increase."

Between 2017 and 2021, about 13.2 million residents age 5 and above spoke English at home, while about 5.8 million spoke another tongue in their household, the bureau said, citing data from its American Community Survey. Of those who spoke a language outside of English at home in the state, about 43% said they didn’t speak English "very well," the bureau said.

Spanish speakers represented the largest share of people who spoke a language other than English within New York households, the bureau said. Other popular languages spoken at home in New York included roughly 6.9% of people speaking Chinese, 4.2% speaking Russian and 3% speaking Eastern Yiddish.

In the educational sphere, understanding the language children speak at home is crucial for helping students embrace their heritage language and culture, while also improving their academic performance and personal confidence in a globalized world, experts say.

"We are helping our children if we emphasize and value their heritage languages," Wang said. "And I think that only helps them to perform better in many ways, both [from an] academic, social, personal aspect and their identity development."

Katina Price, president of the Long Island Language Teachers Inc., said Long Island has a diverse population of languages and cultures, which is being reflected more in the area’s schools.

"So we have a variety of perspectives that we're seeing in our schools and allowing our students to really relate to the curriculum that's being taught, because their home cultures and their home languages are respected," she said.

In March, President Donald Trump signed an executive order saying,  "English is declared as the official language of the United States." The order said: "A nationally designated language is at the core of a unified and cohesive society, and the United States is strengthened by a citizenry that can freely exchange ideas in one shared language." 

The order revokes a prior mandate requiring federal agencies to provide language assistance to non-English speakers.

Across the country, more than 20% of people age 5 and up spoke a language other than English between 2017 and 2021. Most of those people — about 62% — could also converse in English "very well," the bureau said.

Wang, whose work specializes in multilingual language acquisition, said school systems can do a better job of valuing different languages. This can include displaying signs in languages such as Spanish or Chinese, hosting cultural celebrations, or allowing children to continue working in their heritage language while they acquire English proficiency.

"These basic ... very common activities demonstrate our value towards other languages," Wang said, adding "If we really want that," school districts need to invest resources.

Price, who is also the district coordinator of world languages at the Sewanhaka school district, said on Long Island, schools are moving toward cultural competency and global citizenship. In the past, bilingualism and biliteracy were often viewed with skepticism in parts of Long Island, she said.

In her school district today, more students are part of the English Language Learners population and are receiving a New York State Seal of Biliteracy, which recognizes students who have a “ high level of proficiency in English and one or more world languages," according to the New York State Education Department.

"Language is identity, and we can't separate those two," Price said.