Action
Urge Congress to
   defend English
Model official English statute
Donate
Current Legislation
State Profiles

Issues
Official English
Bilingual Education
English on the Job
Citizenship and
   Immigration
Bilingual Ballots
Puerto Rican
    Statehood
Ending E.O. 13166,
   the "Multilingual    Mandate"


Contact us:
1601 N. Kent St.
Suite 1100
Arlington, VA
22209
ph: (703) 816-8821

Status of Language Laws in Massachusetts

A ballot initiative to restrict bilingual education succeeded in 2002. Although in 1975, this state made English its official language (see below), it had until 2002 required immigrant children to be educated in foreign languages. 18.7 percent of this state's residents speak a language other than English.

Ohio does not have an official language. The state does allow referenda and voter initiatives to pass new statutes or to change the state's constitution. 6.1 percent of this state's residents speak a language other than English in their homes.

These are foreign languages most commonly spoken as the primary language in a home in Massachusetts:
Spanish (270,459)
Portuguese or Portuguese Creole (134,962)
French (76,850)
Chinese (60,148)
Italian (56,196)
French Creole (31,845)
Russian (27,577)
Greek (26,015)
Polish (25,182)
Vietnamese (23,464)
German (18,121)
Arabic (15,622)
Mon-Khmer, Cambodian (13,828)

Official Language Law of Massachusetts (1975)

Constitution of the Commonwealth of MASSACHUSETTS
Article XX.
No person shall [have the right to vote, or] be eligible to office under the constitution of this commonwealth, who shall not be able to read the constitution in the English language, and write his name: -- provided, however, that the provisions of this amendment shall not apply to any person prevented by a physical disability from complying with its requisitions, nor to any person who now has the right to vote, nor to any persons who shall be sixty years of age or upwards at the time this amendment shall take effect.