American Pentecost: A Citizenship Quiz about Languages in America

Updated 04-30-2021. Check back for more updates.

 

American Pentecost: A Citizenship Quiz about Languages in America

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An American Pentecost:

We are American Indians, Native Alaskans, Europeans, Latinos, Africans, Arabs, Asians, Pacific Islanders-- yet all of us hear America speaking in our own languages about FREEDOM!

For more info about languages spoken in America:

• Slate: Tagalog in California, Cherokee in Arkansas: What language does your state speak? By Ben Blatt (great graphics) web article
• Wikipedia: Languages of the United States wiki article

Voting Rights Act Sect 203

Section 203 targets those language minorities that have suffered a history of exclusion from the political process: Spanish, Asian, Native American, and Alaskan Native. The Census Bureau identifies specific language groups for specific jurisdictions.

Section 203 says that jurisdictions (cities, counties, states) shall provide election materials in the language of the applicable minority group as well as in the English language.

Sources:

• DOJ: MINORITY LANGUAGE CITIZENS: Section 203 of the Voting Rights Act web page
• DOJ: Language Map 2015 interactive map
• Census: Section 203 Language Provisions of the Voting Rights Act (updates 2016, 2017) web page
• LEP.gov
• The Interagency Working Group on Limited English Proficiency (LEP) created LEP.gov in 2002.  LEP.gov is maintained by the Federal Coordination and Compliance Section (FCS) in the Civil Rights Division of the United States Department of Justice.  
• The mission of LEP.gov is to share resources and information to help expand and improve language assistance services for individuals with limited English proficiency, in compliance with federal law.

More from US Citizenship Podcast:

• Go to N-400 pdfs for practice scripts based on the N-400 Application of Naturalization.
• Go to Citizenship by the Month for more commemoration, event, and holiday resources.
• Go to Citizenship by Language for Citizenship Resources organized by language.
• Go to Citizenship by Country for Citizenship Resources organized by country or origin.
• Go to More for more citizenship resources.