What Is The Second Most Spoken Language In San Francisco ? Is It Mandarin, Cantonese, Or Spanish ?

5 Comments

1. Light Knight says:

   November 10, 2009 at 7:16 am

   Close, real close.
   Reviewing census data (that may be skewed because undocumented immigrants may not have responded truthfully) It sounds like Spanish is the 2nd most spoken.
   Although there may be more Chinese that live in linguistic Isolation.
2. Studio 54 says:

   November 10, 2009 at 7:16 am

   What makes you think English is the number 1 most spoken language in San Francisco in the first place. Go to Chinatown and the Mission district and tell me if you still think English is the dominant language in the city.
3. My ♥ Is In The City By The Bay! says:

   November 10, 2009 at 7:16 am

   English is like the "default" language in all the region, but if you go to different points such chinatown and Mission district (as told above) most people speak chinese ( mandarin or Cantonese) and spanish. but English is always as a "default".
4. emo-kid2436 says:

   November 10, 2009 at 7:16 am

   mandarin then cantonese than shanghainese
5. alicatsam says:

   November 10, 2009 at 7:16 am

   Well, as of last year, I believe we’re 1/3 Chinese and 15% Hispanic. So being that many Chinese, in my experience, speak both dialects, and/or additional dialects or other languages, it’s a toss-up.
   There are (my guess) more non-Hispanics that speak Spanish than non-Chinese who speak Chinese, so there’s another factor.
   If you’re not specifically in the Mission or Chinatown, I guess you’re more likely to hear Spanish than Chinese.
   By "most spoken", if you mean the number of people who speak it, I’d say hands down Spanish.
   If you mean native speakers, then it’s probably still Spanish, since you separated "Chinese" into Mandarin and Cantonese.
   I don’t think anyone’s ever surveyed how many Chinese speak which dialects.