The survey has one yes-or-no box for “a language other than English.” Behind that box sits a list the Census Bureau keeps having to make longer.
It is really three questions, not one. The Census Bureau prints them in order: Does this person speak a language other than English at home? — What is this language? — How well does this person speak English? The same three were asked in the 1980, 1990 and 2000 censuses. So “speaks another language at home” and “does not speak English well” are two different answers, on two different lines.
Basis: U.S. Census Bureau, “About Language Use in the U.S. Population”: “a. Does this person speak a language other than English at home? … b. What is this language? … c. How well does this person speak English?” and “The three questions below were asked in the census in 1980, 1990, and 2000 and are the same questions asked in the American Community Survey.”
Question b is answered in your own words, and somebody then has to turn that answer into a number: the Census Bureau says its coding operations put the reported answers to “What is this language?” into language categories, and that write-ins are coded to an international standard wherever possible. It rebuilt that code list in 2016, and the number of possible codes jumped from 382 to 1,333. Linguists recognise over 7,000 languages in the world, and the Bureau says more codes get added as people write in languages that were not on the list.
Basis: U.S. Census Bureau, “About Language Use in the U.S. Population”: “The coding operations used by the Census Bureau put the reported answers from the question ‘What is this language?’ into language categories”; “In 2016, the code list was revised to match the International Organization for Standardization’s ISO-639-3 standard, and the number of possible codes was increased from 382 to 1,333. Linguists recognize over 7,000 languages in the world, and as respondents report new languages, more codes are added to the language list”; “Whenever possible, language write-ins are coded as an ISO-639-3 language.”
Some of the languages on that list are written into state law, right beside English. Alaska's statute makes the official languages of the State of Alaska English together with the Alaska Native languages — the statute names Inupiaq, Siberian Yupik, Central Alaskan Yup’ik, Alutiiq, Dena’ina, Koyukon, Gwich’in, Tlingit, Haida, Tsimshian and more than a dozen others.
Basis: Alaska Statutes AS 44.12.310(a), Official languages: “The English, Inupiaq, Siberian Yupik, Central Alaskan Yup’ik, Cup’ig, Alutiiq, Unangax̂, Dena’ina, Deg Xinag, Holikachuk, Koyukon, Upper Kuskokwim, Gwich’in, Upper Tanana, … Tanacross, Hän, Ahtna, … Eyak, Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimshian languages are the official languages of the State of Alaska.”
Hawaii put the same idea in its constitution: “English and Hawaiian shall be the official languages of Hawaii.” That sentence was added by the Constitutional Convention of 1978 and approved by voters that November.
Basis: Constitution of the State of Hawaii, Article XV, Section 4 (Hawaii Legislative Reference Bureau): “English and Hawaiian shall be the official languages of Hawaii, except that Hawaiian shall be required for public acts and transactions only as provided by law. [Add Const Con 1978 and election Nov 7, 1978]”
Does that explain why Alaska sits higher in the quiz than a state of its size “should”? Honestly — we cannot tell from this number. The figure the quiz ranks is only English versus not English; it never says which language, so it cannot be used to credit any particular one. Treat it as a good question to go and look up, not as an answer this table handed you.
※ A hypothesis is an idea that isn't proven yet.
📊 Sources for the rankings mentioned in this note (links to the original data and retrieval dates) are on each quiz page below.