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The Languages to Learn in San Diego…Other Than Spanish

Written by Nicole Piazza, Sales Coordinator | Jul 20, 2016 1:52:02 PM

Did you know San Diego is teeming with diverse languages other than Spanish and that cool SoCal English dialect peppered with the word "dude?"

LinguaLinx is on a mission to help the people across the world with all their translation needs, from legal to healthcare to educational, and everywhere in between. Along with the capability to translate into 98% of the world's known languages, we also have a love for other cultures and the ways that these languages came to be.

This article delves into linguistic palette of San Diego, California - highlighting languages you can learn and utilize on the sunny city streets. 

Languages Spoken in San Diego

Situated only about 15 miles from the Mexican border, San Diego is truly a multicultural city.

Countless languages are spoken here, some more so than others. And although English is the most widely spoken language, about 25% of the population are native or fluent Spanish speakers.

So, it’s clear that picking up Spanish is vital for any polyglot who is going to live in this beautiful seaside city, but what other languages are spoken here?

Well, a great many, it turns out. According to the California Pan-Ethnic Health Network, of those who speak a language other than English at home in San Diego County, roughly two-thirds (66.1%) speak Spanish — no surprise there.

What is interesting to discover is the fact that, of those who speak a language other than English at home in San Diego County, roughly one in five (21.2%) speaks an Asian or Pacific Island language. 

There are over 40,000 native Chinese speakers; about 14,000 native Korean speakers; nearly 12,000 native Japanese speakers; and about 5,000 native Mon-Khmer (Cambodian) speakers.

Other languages with a sizable presence include Hmong, Thai, Laotian, Vietnamese, Tagalog, and other Pacific Island and Asian languages.

There are also a number of Indo-European languages represented in the city of San Diego. Nearly 9,000 people speak French; over 5,000 speak Italian; approximately 8,300 people speak Russian; over 11,000 speak German, and about 4,500 people speak Portuguese.

Other Indo-European languages with a presence here include Armenian, Persian, Greek, Polish, and Hindi.

Arabic is another useful language for San Diego residents to pick up, as there are nearly 22,000 native speakers here. African languages are spoken by nearly 13,000 people, and there is a small collection of Navajo and other Native North American languages here as well.

So while you are definitely more likely to hear English and Spanish in the great city of San Diego, they are certainly not the only languages widely spoken within our bustling, multicultural metropolis.

Require Language Translation & Localization?

In this article, you learned about the primary languages spoken in San Diego and how this creates a melting pot of culture.

LinguaLinx has cornered the market on language services for the working world because translation is the heart of what we do.

Interested in learning more about how LinguaLinx can connect your business to cultures everywhere? The team members of our interpretation division master the art of accurately conveying nuanced meanings from one language to another—in any situation, in real-time. 

With Lingualinx, you won't ever have to worry about your message getting across. You know you're in good hands with our ISO 17100 compliance, twenty years of professional translation experience, and the organizations whose trust we've earned.

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