Official English Law in Montana

1-1-510. English as official and primary language of state and local governments.

(1) English is the official and primary language of:

• (a) the state and local governments;
• (b) government officers and employees acting in the course and scope of their employment; and
• (c) government documents and records.

(2) A state statute, local government ordinance, or state or local government policy may not require a specific foreign language to be used by government officers and employees acting in the course and scope of their employment or for government documents and records or require a specific foreign language to be taught in a school as a student’s primary language.

(3) This section is not intended to violate the federal or state constitutional right to freedom of speech of government officers and employees acting in the course and scope of their employment. This section does not prohibit a government officer or employee acting in the course and scope of employment from using a language other than English, including use in a government document or record, if the employee chooses, or prohibit the teaching of other languages in a school for general educational purposes or as secondary languages.

(4) This section is not intended to limit the use of any other language by a tribal government. A school district and a tribe, by mutual agreement, may provide for the instruction of students that recognizes the cultural identity of Native American children and promotes the use of a common language for communication.

LANGUAGES SPOKEN IN MONTANA

803,031	English
44,331	All languages other than English combined
12,953	Spanish or Spanish Creole
9,416	German
9,234	Other Native North American languages
3,298	French (incl. Patois, Cajun)
1,335	Scandinavian languages
759	Italian
711	Japanese
610	Russian
528	Chinese
478	Korean
421	Tagalog
364	Serbo-Croatian
332	Greek
293	Polish
226	Vietnamese
163	Portuguese or Portuguese Creole
148	Arabic
138	Navajo
135	Hungarian
102	Thai
91	African languages
74	Hebrew
58	Miao, Hmong
53	Hindi
28	Laotian
26	Gujarathi
25	Urdu
20	Persian
10	French Creole
7	Mon-Khmer, Cambodian
4	Armenian
2	Yiddish