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Dozens of languages spoken across East Valley
By Gary Nelson, Tribune
East Valley Tribune, AZ
June 16 2004
Urdu is spoken here. So are Tagalog, Gujarathi and Laotian. The East
Valley, in fact, is a vivid tapestry of the world's most familiar,
and some of its most exotic, tongues.
That picture emerges from a vast database of languages spoken in
virtually every neighborhood in the United States. It is sponsored
by the Modern Language Association, a New York City-based academic
organization that crunched U.S. Census data gathered in April 2000
to find out who speaks what, and where. The Web site is being made
public today.
The data could be a gold mine for marketers and a tool for civic
leaders and governments. Beyond that, it paints the East Valley as
a multilingual melting pot, broken down ZIP code by ZIP code.
English, of course, is by far the most prevalent language spoken in
East Valley homes. Spanish, as you would expect, is second.
Yiddish is quite a bit farther down the list — one of the least-spoken
languages in Arizona. If, however, you happen to be one of the two
Yiddish-speaking residents of the 85262 ZIP code in north Scottsdale,
don't despair. The rest of Scottsdale has 268 others. And if you feel
like taking a drive, Queen Creek has five.
Perhaps the least linguistically diverse of larger East Valley cities
is Apache Junction. Of the 40 non-English languages and language
groups listed, 20 are not represented there. But if you're looking
for someone in Apache Junction who can order Polish sausage in Polish
or French toast in French, you can find 83 who speak the former and
182 the latter.
The most polyglot neighborhood in the East Valley? That's little
surprise: The 85282 ZIP code in Tempe, near Arizona State University.
Within that small area you can hear every language but Armenian and
Miao, a tongue of Southeast Asia. A few of the languages are a bit on
the rare side, though. See that little group huddled in the corner
of the coffee shop? They may be all four people in ZIP code 85282
who speak French Creole — the only four people in all of Tempe who do.
As for Miao, it's the only language on the list that's not spoken
in a single East Valley home. You can find pockets of Armenian here
and there, however, including five in Paradise Valley and 14 in Mesa.
Mesa's Armenian speakers are all bunched in the city's north-central
85213 ZIP code.
If the East Valley is beginning to sound like lobby conversation at
the United Nations, that's just a reflection of what's happening all
over the country, said Rosemary G. Feal, the executive director of
the Modern Language Association.
''So often, when we think of languages and cultures that are not
Anglophone America, we think of the world out there — foreign,''
she said. ''We don't necessarily realize how, in our own American
globalized society, we've got all these linguistic resources woven
into the fabric.''
That should give some comfort to the one lonely soul in Scottsdale's
85262 ZIP code who speaks an unspecified Slavic language.
Take heart. You'll likely have company soon.
- The Associated Press contributed to this report.
By Gary Nelson, Tribune
East Valley Tribune, AZ
June 16 2004
Urdu is spoken here. So are Tagalog, Gujarathi and Laotian. The East
Valley, in fact, is a vivid tapestry of the world's most familiar,
and some of its most exotic, tongues.
That picture emerges from a vast database of languages spoken in
virtually every neighborhood in the United States. It is sponsored
by the Modern Language Association, a New York City-based academic
organization that crunched U.S. Census data gathered in April 2000
to find out who speaks what, and where. The Web site is being made
public today.
The data could be a gold mine for marketers and a tool for civic
leaders and governments. Beyond that, it paints the East Valley as
a multilingual melting pot, broken down ZIP code by ZIP code.
English, of course, is by far the most prevalent language spoken in
East Valley homes. Spanish, as you would expect, is second.
Yiddish is quite a bit farther down the list — one of the least-spoken
languages in Arizona. If, however, you happen to be one of the two
Yiddish-speaking residents of the 85262 ZIP code in north Scottsdale,
don't despair. The rest of Scottsdale has 268 others. And if you feel
like taking a drive, Queen Creek has five.
Perhaps the least linguistically diverse of larger East Valley cities
is Apache Junction. Of the 40 non-English languages and language
groups listed, 20 are not represented there. But if you're looking
for someone in Apache Junction who can order Polish sausage in Polish
or French toast in French, you can find 83 who speak the former and
182 the latter.
The most polyglot neighborhood in the East Valley? That's little
surprise: The 85282 ZIP code in Tempe, near Arizona State University.
Within that small area you can hear every language but Armenian and
Miao, a tongue of Southeast Asia. A few of the languages are a bit on
the rare side, though. See that little group huddled in the corner
of the coffee shop? They may be all four people in ZIP code 85282
who speak French Creole — the only four people in all of Tempe who do.
As for Miao, it's the only language on the list that's not spoken
in a single East Valley home. You can find pockets of Armenian here
and there, however, including five in Paradise Valley and 14 in Mesa.
Mesa's Armenian speakers are all bunched in the city's north-central
85213 ZIP code.
If the East Valley is beginning to sound like lobby conversation at
the United Nations, that's just a reflection of what's happening all
over the country, said Rosemary G. Feal, the executive director of
the Modern Language Association.
''So often, when we think of languages and cultures that are not
Anglophone America, we think of the world out there — foreign,''
she said. ''We don't necessarily realize how, in our own American
globalized society, we've got all these linguistic resources woven
into the fabric.''
That should give some comfort to the one lonely soul in Scottsdale's
85262 ZIP code who speaks an unspecified Slavic language.
Take heart. You'll likely have company soon.
- The Associated Press contributed to this report.