The Changing Voice of California

In 1990, 8.6 million Californians spoke a language other than English at home, and 4.4 million were considered “limited English proficient” (LEP). Ten years later, in 2000, those numbers had increased by 40 percent, with 12.4 million speaking a language other than English at home and 6.2 million being identified as LEP. In Los Angeles County alone, there are significant communities of people speaking Spanish, Chinese, Tagalog, Korean, Armenian, Vietnamese, Farsi, Japanese, Russian, French, Arabic, Cambodian, German, languages of the Pacific Islands, Italian, and Hebrew. In the San Francisco Bay area, only 54 percent of the population speaks English at home; 18 percent speak Chinese, and 12 percent speak Spanish.

California’s growing diversity is one source of its dynamic economy and culture. It also poses a challenge to anyone providing services to this increasingly diverse population. The voice of California is changing; to speak to all Californians, we must change too.

To download a PDF version of Addressing Language Access Issues in Your Practice: A Toolkit for Physicians and Their Staff Members, go to www.familydocs.org, click on “Publications,” then click on “Toolkits,” and finally click on “Addressing Language Access Toolkit.”