Bilingual U.S. Census Forms Debut in 2010

(The Language Village)  For the first time, U.S. census forms will be distributed in both English and Spanish to 13.5 million households in predominantly Spanish-speaking neighborhoods. Advocates hope the forms will lead to a more accurate count by winning over the trust of immigrants who are often wary of government and may be even more fearful after the recent surge in immigration raids and deportations.  "If the government is reaching out to you in a language you understand, it helps build trust," said Arturo Vargas, executive director of the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials. "I think the community has become really sensitive to political developments, and the census is the next step in this movement that we're seeing of civic engagement in the Latino community."

In the past, experts say, the Census Bureau has undercounted minority and immigrant communities, who are harder to reach because of language barriers and distrust of government. Census officials say they designed the bilingual forms after extensive research, using the Canadian census questionnaire as an example. Over a six-year testing period, officials said the forms drew a better response in predominantly Spanish-speaking areas. The bilingual forms will be mailed out to neighborhoods where at least a fifth of households report speaking primarily Spanish and little English, said Adrienne Oneto, assistant division chief for content and outreach at the Census Bureau in Washington. The cost of preparing and mailing the bilingual questionnaires is about $26 million, which is more than it would have cost to send only English forms, but the more accurate results will merit the extra cost. More than a quarter of the forms will be distributed in California from Fresno to the Mexican border, with Los Angeles County topping the list. The Miami and Houston areas will also receive sizable numbers of the questionnaires.

Automatic mailing of the bilingual forms debuts in 2010. As in 2000, census forms will be made available in Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese and Russian upon request. None of those other languages compares to the proliferation of Spanish. Roughly 34 million people reported speaking Spanish at home in the United States in 2007, more than all the other languages combined except English. Eighty percent of the U.S. population reported speaking only English at home.

The question is whether the bilingual forms will help overcome immigrant fears of federal authorities after seeing friends and family swept up in immigration raids over the last few years.
"It is a difficult time for immigrants and I could see where there might be concern where being counted might lead to future negative consequences," said Clara E. Rodriguez, professor of sociology at Fordham University in New York.

There are very few opponents of the plan, but Rep. Duncan Hunter, Republican from California, reportedly says the census should be conducted only in English to encourage people to learn the language. "Taxpayers should not have to carry the additional expense of providing bilingual questionnaires," Kasper said. But many say the bilingual forms make practical sense. Moreover, even though English is the most commonly used language in the United States, the lingua franca, it is not the official language of this nation of immigrants.

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