Do You Speak My Language?

Materials: calculator

Work in pairs.

The table below shows the number of people over 5 years of age in the United States that speak the given languages at home. The data in the table is from the 1990 census. According to the 1990 census, the population of the U.S. was 248,709,873. The number of children under the age of 5 was 18,354,443.

Language Used at Home	Speakers Over 5 Years Old		Language Used at Home	Speakers Over 5 Years Old
English only	198,601,000		Portuguese	430,000
Spanish	17,339,000		Japanese	428,000
French	1,702,000		Greek	388,000
German	1,547,000		Arabic	355,000
Italian	1,309,000		Hindi, Urdu, related languages	331,000
Chinese	1,249,000		Russian	242,000
Tagalog	843,000		Yiddish	213,000
Polish	723,000		Thai	206,000
Korean	626,000		Persian	202,000
Vietnamese	507,000		French Creole	188,000

Source: The World Almanac for Kids

Procedure for the Activity

Step 1 Estimate the number of people in the U.S. in 1990 that were over 5 years of age. Explain the method you used to estimate the population.
Step 2 Use your population estimate from Step 1 to find the percent of people over 5 years of age that spoke each language in 1990. Round your answers to the nearest hundredth of a percent.
Step 3 Experts predict that the total population of the U.S. in 2025 will be 337,815,000 with 22,551,000 under the age of 5. Estimate the number of people in the U.S. that will be over 5 years of age in 2025.
Step 4 Use the data in the table and your estimate in Step 3. Predict how many people over 5 years old will speak each language in 2025.
Step 5 How accurate do you think your predictions are in Step 4? Explain your reasoning.

Wrapping Up the Activity

Make a poster or brochure to display the data in this activity. Include any tables, graphs, and/or pictures that will help you to present the information in a unique and creative way.