| Language | 2000 | 1999 | 1998 | 1997 | 1996 | 1995 | 1994 | 1993 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Albanian* |
37 |
33 |
NA |
NA |
NA |
NA |
NA |
NA |
| Arabic |
7,189 |
7,041 |
6,721 |
6,284 |
6,116 |
5,914 |
5,767 |
5,451 |
| Armenian |
10,726 |
9,945 |
9,018 |
7,993 |
7,028 |
5,980 |
5,242 |
4,551 |
| Assyrian |
1,129 |
1,075 |
979 |
898 |
854 |
906 |
855 |
614 |
Burmese |
445 |
427 |
380 |
257 |
318 |
331 |
319 |
196 |
Cantonese |
29,022 |
27,992 |
26,443 |
24,750 |
24,105 |
24,390 |
23,684 |
22,778 |
Cebuano/Visayan |
452 |
358 |
410 |
321 |
301 |
275 |
254 |
215 |
Chaldean |
146 |
266 |
251 |
223 |
179 |
166 |
0 |
0 |
| Chamorro/Guamanian |
81 |
92 |
100 |
88 |
101 |
137 |
150 |
135 |
| Chaozhou/Chaochow |
897 |
819 |
781 |
695 |
598 |
439 |
0 |
0 |
| Croatian |
346 |
357 |
355 |
263 |
320 |
279 |
283 |
209 |
| Dutch |
455 |
444 |
413 |
314 |
348 |
334 |
367 |
347 |
Farsi/Persian |
11,945 |
12,202 |
11,844 |
11,346 |
11,224 |
10,845 |
10,303 |
9,524 |
French |
1,748 |
1,694 |
1,649 |
1,292 |
1,393 |
1,392 |
1,380 |
1,154 |
German |
1,888 |
1,840 |
1,760 |
1,450 |
1,582 |
1,633 |
1,629 |
1,488 |
Greek |
736 |
750 |
808 |
677 |
824 |
874 |
899 |
669 |
| Gujarati |
2,726 |
2,633 |
2,506 |
2,187 |
2,294 |
2,209 |
2,101 |
1,862 |
| Hebrew |
2,133 |
2,083 |
2,067 |
1,882 |
1,944 |
1,935 |
1,979 |
1,869 |
| Hindi |
5,071 |
4,757 |
4,713 |
4,066 |
4,024 |
3,815 |
3,648 |
3,163 |
| Hmong |
6,376 |
6,453 |
6,614 |
6,048 |
5,609 |
5,194 |
4,854 |
4,516 |
Hungarian |
465 |
448 |
462 |
371 |
454 |
486 |
527 |
349 |
Ilocano |
2,241 |
2,344 |
2,321 |
2,197 |
2,089 |
2,100 |
2,080 |
1,858 |
Indonesian |
1,068 |
1,027 |
888 |
705 |
765 |
728 |
686 |
522 |
Italian |
915 |
942 |
971 |
786 |
975 |
1,017 |
1,055 |
857 |
| Japanese |
5,414 |
5,656 |
5,439 |
5,202 |
5,343 |
5,622 |
5,685 |
5,617 |
| Khmer/Cambodian |
10,010 |
10,610 |
10,823 |
10,072 |
9,056 |
8,071 |
7,481 |
7,219 |
| Khmu |
145 |
153 |
136 |
119 |
120 |
128 |
103 |
92 |
| Korean |
26,441 |
26,256 |
25,675 |
24,850 |
23,963 |
22,881 |
22,262 |
21,766 |
Kurdish |
44 |
60 |
44 |
31 |
30 |
18 |
0 |
0 |
Lahu |
23 |
32 |
24 |
36 |
28 |
30 |
30 |
30 |
Lao |
4,510 |
4,772 |
4,815 |
4,571 |
4,513 |
4,506 |
4,576 |
4,701 |
Mandarin/Putonghua |
24,802 |
23,248 |
21,064 |
19,621 |
18,262 |
17,110 |
16,702 |
15,538 |
| Marshallese |
40 |
42 |
32 |
31 |
18 |
21 |
33 |
21 |
| Mien |
1,366 |
1,396 |
1,150 |
1,062 |
926 |
818 |
741 |
661 |
| Mixteco |
7 |
9 |
3 |
8 |
4 |
8 |
8 |
4 |
| Native American |
N/A |
N/A |
229 |
163 |
308 |
162 |
368 |
425 |
Pashto |
468 |
447 |
357 |
286 |
287 |
235 |
234 |
175 |
Pilipino/Tagalog |
36,412 |
37,977 |
38,767 |
38,069 |
37,664 |
37,477 |
36,414 |
36,575 |
Polish |
1,008 |
1,037 |
1,074 |
783 |
1,006 |
1,002 |
926 |
715 |
Portuguese |
3,462 |
3,670 |
3,774 |
3,702 |
3,963 |
4,196 |
4,231 |
4,297 |
| Punjabi |
5,626 |
5,101 |
4,707 |
4,036 |
3,675 |
3,482 |
3,387 |
3,013 |
| Rumanian |
1,631 |
1,512 |
1,418 |
1,223 |
1,219 |
1,201 |
1,169 |
977 |
| Russian |
7,091 |
6,395 |
5,731 |
4,761 |
4,304 |
3,504 |
2,861 |
2,186 |
| Samoan |
1,607 |
1,657 |
1,813 |
1,679 |
1,748 |
1,889 |
2,100 |
2,098 |
Serbian |
187 |
184 |
178 |
119 |
124 |
108 |
228 |
174 |
Serbo-Croatian |
162 |
159 |
136 |
128 |
159 |
144 |
0 |
0 |
Spanish |
506,384 |
479,102 |
448,560 |
420,845 |
399,665 |
386,822 |
387,558 |
393,783 |
Taiwanese |
1,079 |
1,117 |
1,120 |
1,061 |
1,271 |
1,312 |
1,576 |
1,512 |
| Thai |
2,222 |
2,203 |
2,220 |
1,923 |
2,098 |
1,984 |
2,074 |
1,860 |
| Tigrinya* |
291 |
103 |
NA |
NA |
NA |
NA |
NA |
NA |
| Toishanese |
91 |
53 |
61 |
57 |
60 |
33 |
0 |
0 |
| Tongan |
1,090 |
1,046 |
1,079 |
990 |
1,012 |
968 |
1,082 |
959 |
Turkish |
327 |
323 |
322 |
185 |
198 |
211 |
213 |
142 |
Ukrainian |
576 |
462 |
394 |
243 |
171 |
99 |
61 |
0 |
Urdu |
2,892 |
2,691 |
2,499 |
2,032 |
2,082 |
1,869 |
1,710 |
1,450 |
Vietnamese |
34,898 |
34,443 |
33,051 |
31,374 |
28,917 |
28,260 |
28,113 |
28,613 |
| Other languages of China |
N/A |
N/A |
7,928 |
7,839 |
8,046 |
7,939 |
8,176 |
8,023 |
| Other Philippine languages |
N/A |
N/A |
2,131 |
2,039 |
2,014 |
2,125 |
2,119 |
1,910 |
| Other non-English languages |
22,740 |
20,425 |
11,271 |
17,771 |
13,431 |
12,229 |
13,045 |
19,628 |
| State totals |
791,283 |
758,363 |
720,479 |
682,004 |
649,130 |
627,843 |
623,328 |
626,491 |
*New language beginning in 1999.
Source:
Language Census, Spring
Educational Demographics Office
California Department of Education