English language in Puerto Rico

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Spanish is the primary native language of Puerto Rico and by far the most widely spoken of two official languages in the territory, but English is the second official language and plays a significant role in certain sectors of Puerto Rican life.

English is taught in all Puerto Rican schools and is the primary language for all of the U.S. federal agencies in Puerto Rico as one of the two official languages of the Commonwealth. English and Spanish were first made co-official languages by the colonial government in 1902, but Spanish remained the primary language of everyday life and local government proceedings.[1] English was removed as an official language in 1991 after the U.S. Congress had attempted to make English the primary language in order for Puerto Rico to join the union as the 51st state, but it was brought back as the second official language in 1993 and has remained the co-official language of the Commonwealth since then.[2][3][4][5][6][7]

Spanish remains the most spoken and written language,[8] and the vast majority of Puerto Ricans do not use English regularly other than some borrowed English words in their ordinary Spanish speech.[9] Various surveys have found that the majority of Puerto Ricans are fluent in English.[10][11] Out of those age five and older, 76.6% of Puerto Ricans did not speak English "very well," and 94.5% spoke a language other than English at home.[2]

  1. ^ https://lawandinequality.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/16_17Law_Ineq3591999.pdf
  2. ^ a b "Puerto Rico 2015-2019 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates". US Census. Department of Commerce. 2019. Retrieved 7 July 2021.
  3. ^ "English in Puerto Rico". Puerto Rico Report. Retrieved 7 December 2022.
  4. ^ "Puerto Rico makes Spanish official language". Washington Post. Retrieved 7 December 2022.
  5. ^ Valle, Sandra Del (1 January 2003). Language Rights and the Law in the United States: Finding Our Voices. Multilingual Matters. ISBN 978-1-85359-658-2.
  6. ^ Johannessen, B. Gloria Guzmán (14 January 2019). Bilingualism and Bilingual Education: Politics, Policies, and Practices in a Globalized Society. Springer. ISBN 978-3-030-05496-0.
  7. ^ "P. Rico Senate declares Spanish over English as first official language". News Report. San Juan, Puerto Rico. Agencia EFE. 4 September 2015. Archived from the original on 1 November 2020. Retrieved 7 February 2016.
  8. ^ Juan Bobo: A Folkloric Information System. Sarai Lastra. Pennsylvania State University. Library Trends. Winter 1999. p530.
  9. ^ Translation in Puerto Rico. Archived 19 October 2018 at the Wayback Machine Retrieved 5 March 2013.
  10. ^ "¿Se discrimina al usar el inglés en algunos tribunales de Puerto Rico?" Prensa Asociada. New York Daily News. 24 February 2009. Archived from the original on 8 March 2013. Retrieved 14 August 2010.
  11. ^ 2005–2009 Population and Housing Narrative Profile for Puerto Rico. Archived 8 October 2011 at the Wayback Machine U.S. Census Narrative Profile. U.S. Census. 2005–2009. Retrieved 19 May 2011.