San Francisco Language Access Ordinance 2018 Report San Francisco Language Access Ordinance 2018 | Page 19

EMERGING LANGUAGE CONSIDERATIONS An emerging community is a group of individuals who share a culture and language, but may not have reached statistically significant thresholds. However, their presence and need for services is evident. These populations include the Maya, Arab, and African immigrant communities. Although they may not all live in San Francisco, these communities are present in the Bay Area and typically work or receive services in San Francisco.   The LAO defines “Emerging Language Population” as “at least 5,000 but less than 10,000 city residents who speak a shared language other than English.”  2  According to the latest American Community Survey, which is the most readily available data, Russian and Vietnamese have reached this threshold, with both languages representing 3% of all LEP clients served in FY 2016-2017. Recognizing this trend, City departments already have been consistently providing services to these populations. [2] Administrative Code Section 91.2 EXPLORING ALTERNATIVE LANGUAGE DATA COLLECTION Reliable data on language, in particular for limited English speakers, is becoming difficult to obtain and analyze. The most reliable source is the U.S. Census Bureau. However, the American Community Survey (ACS) is based on an annual sampling of about one in 40 households and has a high margin of error. In addition, the Census Bureau has stopped disaggregating more detailed data on individual languages at the Census tract, city, and county levels to protect the data privacy of smaller language groups in the United States. As such, the City should consider other sources of reliable data, such as data from community- based organizations, school districts, and local and state governments to obtain a more complete picture of communities that may require language access services. MAYAN LANGUAGES Mayan refers to at least 26 different cultural and linguistic groups from Mexico and Central America who often do not speak Spanish or are limited Spanish proficient. The languages spoken in San Francisco are primarily Maya Yucateco, with smaller populations of Maya Mam, Tseltal, Ch’ol, and K’iche. While this growing population in San Francisco is evident through the proliferation  of Mayan and Mayan serving businesses, their linguistic diversity makes the population difficult to document and track.  ARABIC Of the 3,247 residents in the city who speak Arabic at home, 32% or 1,126, are LEP, with the majority living in Districts 3, 6, and 7. KOREAN More than half (51%) of the 6,242 residents who speak Korean at home are LEP. The largest concentration of Korean LEP speakers lives in District 5 (1,135 residents).  FRENCH Of the 9,419 residents who speak French at home, 1,129 are LEP. They live in scattered pockets throughout San Francisco, with the greatest concentration in District 2.