Also see:
-- City of Los Angeles Languages & Ability to Speak English - 2010 Census
-- City of Los Angeles Languages & Ability to Speak English - 2000 Census
-- Most Recent Census Language Estimates by City of Los Angeles Neighborhoods
-- Language Spoken at Home by City/Community - Los Angeles County
Per recent Census estimates, about a quarter of all Angelenos speak English less than "very well." More than 50 percent of Angeleno speakers of Korean, Thai, Lao, or other Tai-Kadai languages speak English less than "very well." Of Spanish speaking Angelenos, 47 percent speak English less than "very well."
| Language | Estimated Speakers | Percent of All Speakers | Speak English "Very Well" | Speak English Less Than "Very Well" |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total | 3,695,324 | 100.0% | 2,773,618 | 921,706 |
| Speak only English | 1,605,577 | 43.4% | --- | --- |
| Latin (Romance) & Southern European Languages | ||||
| Spanish | 1,440,657 | 39.0% | 765,260 | 675,397 |
| French (incl. Cajun) | 22,869 | 0.6% | 19,514 | 3,355 |
| Haitian | 3,169 | 0.1% | 2,790 | 379 |
| Language | Estimated Speakers | Percent of All Speakers | Speak English "Very Well" | Speak English Less Than "Very Well" |
| Italian | 6,733 | 0.2% | 5,878 | 855 |
| Portuguese | 5,622 | 0.2% | 4,111 | 1,511 |
| Greek | 1,894 | 0.1% | 1,255 | 639 |
| Northern European Languages | ||||
| German | 11,120 | 0.3% | 10,617 | 503 |
| Yiddish, Pennsylvania Dutch or other West Germanic languages (including Scandanavian) | 2,217 | 0.1% | 2,052 | 165 |
| Language | Estimated Speakers | Percent of All Speakers | Speak English "Very Well" | Speak English Less Than "Very Well" |
| Slavic Languages & Hungarian | ||||
| Russian | 38,095 | 1.0% | 21,488 | 16,607 |
| Polish | 4,006 | 0.1% | 3,330 | 676 |
| Serbo-Croatian | 3,281 | 0.1% | 2,633 | 648 |
| Ukrainian or other Slavic languages | 6,548 | 0.2% | 3,982 | 2,566 |
| Indic & Other Indo-European Languages | ||||
| Armenian | 89,879 | 2.4% | 49,635 | 40,244 |
| Language | Estimated Speakers | Percent of All Speakers | Speak English "Very Well" | Speak English Less Than "Very Well" |
| Persian (incl. Farsi, Dari) | 52,292 | 1.4% | 33,164 | 19,128 |
| Gujarati | 1,977 | 0.1% | 1,737 | 240 |
| Hindi | 15,594 | 0.4% | 13,293 | 2,301 |
| Urdu | 3,700 | 0.1% | 2,196 | 1,504 |
| Punjabi | 3,510 | 0.1% | 2,475 | 1,035 |
| Language | Estimated Speakers | Percent of All Speakers | Speak English "Very Well" | Speak English Less Than "Very Well" |
| Bengali | 7,309 | 0.2% | 3,381 | 3,928 |
| Nepali, Marathi, or other Indic languages | 3,225 | 0.1% | 2,474 | 751 |
| Other Indo-European languages | 7,913 | 0.2% | 6,994 | 919 |
| Asian Languages | ||||
| Telugu | 3,040 | 0.1% | 2,974 | 66 |
| Tamil | 1,843 | 0.05% | 1,019 | 824 |
| Language | Estimated Speakers | Percent of All Speakers | Speak English "Very Well" | Speak English Less Than "Very Well" |
| Malayalam, Kannada, or other Dravidian languages | 1,150 | 0.03% | 1,034 | 116 |
| Chinese (incl. Mandarin, Cantonese) | 66,929 | 1.8% | 37,767 | 29,162 |
| Japanese | 16,673 | 0.5% | 10,962 | 5,711 |
| Korean | 80,694 | 2.2% | 30,411 | 50,283 |
| Hmong | 564 | 0.02% | 564 | 0 |
| Language | Estimated Speakers | Percent of All Speakers | Speak English "Very Well" | Speak English Less Than "Very Well" |
| Vietnamese | 14,874 | 0.4% | 7,803 | 7,071 |
| Khmer | 2,440 | 0.1% | 1,191 | 1,249 |
| Thai, Lao, or other Tai-Kadai languages | 10,393 | 0.3% | 4,018 | 6,375 |
| Other languages of Asia | 3,205 | 0.1% | 1,885 | 1,320 |
| Pacific Islander Languages | ||||
| Tagalog (incl. Filipino) | 85,815 | 2.3% | 61,705 | 24,110 |
| Language | Estimated Speakers | Percent of All Speakers | Speak English "Very Well" | Speak English Less Than "Very Well" |
| Ilocano, Samoan, Hawaiian, or other Austronesian languages | 8,408 | 0.2% | 5,238 | 3,170 |
| Arabic, Hebrew, African, Native North American & Other Languages | ||||
| Arabic | 20,908 | 0.6% | 13,215 | 7,693 |
| Hebrew | 18,226 | 0.5% | 15,528 | 2,698 |
| Amharic, Somali, or other Afro-Asiatic languages | 6,882 | 0.2% | 4,407 | 2,475 |
| Yoruba, Twi, Igbo, or other languages of Western Africa | 4,663 | 0.1% | 3,628 | 1,035 |
| Language | Estimated Speakers | Percent of All Speakers | Speak English "Very Well" | Speak English Less Than "Very Well" |
| Swahili or other languages of Central, Eastern, & Southern Africa | 1,832 | 0.05% | 1,780 | 52 |
| Navajo | 116 | 0.003% | 116 | 0 |
| Other Native languages of North America | 223 | 0.01% | 168 | 55 |
| Other & unspecified languages | 9,259 | 0.3% | 4,369 | 4,890 |
* Annual estimate from data & surveys collected over a one-year period by the U.S. Census American Community Survey.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau
