what language do most native americans speak?
English Language
entailment
 The European languages introduced during colonialism have created a linguistic divide between the population who live in the Northwest and Southwest regions and the French @-@ speaking remainder of the country . Both English and French are official languages , although French is by far the most understood language ( more than 80 % ) . 

contradiction
 The settlement history of the English @-@ speaking inner circle countries outside Britain helped level dialect distinctions and produce a koineised form of English in South Africa , Australia , and New Zealand . The majority of immigrants to the United States without British ancestry rapidly adopted English after arrival . Now the majority of the United States population are monolingual English speakers , although English has been given official status by only 30 of the 50 state governments of the US . 

neutral
 Decades , and in some cases centuries , of British rule and emigration have left their mark on the independent nations that arose from the British Empire . The empire established the use of English in regions around the world . Today it is the primary language of up to 400 million people and is spoken by about one and a half billion as a first , second or foreign language . 

entailment
 English ( American English ) is the de facto national language . Although there is no official language at the federal level , some laws — such as U.S. naturalization requirements — standardize English . In 2010 , about 230 million , or 80 % of the population aged five years and older , spoke only English at home . Spanish , spoken by 12 % of the population at home , is the second most common language and the most widely taught second language . Some Americans advocate making English the country 's official language , as it is in 28 states . 

neutral
 The most widely taught foreign languages at all levels in the United States ( in terms of enrollment numbers ) are : Spanish ( around 7 @.@ 2 million students ) , French ( 1 @.@ 5 million ) , and German ( 500 @,@ 000 ) . Other commonly taught languages ( with 100 @,@ 000 to 250 @,@ 000 learners ) include Latin , Japanese , American Sign Language , Italian , and Chinese . 18 % of all Americans claim to speak at least one language in addition to English . 
