The U.S. language landscape has largely been shaped by immigration patterns to the United States.  Large-scale British immigration before independence due to colonialism makes English the most widely spoken language in the United States; however, the United States has always been multicultural and multilingual.  In fact, the first bilingual education program was in Ohio to support German-speaking students in the early 1800’s, followed shortly by a bilingual program in Louisiana to support French-speaking students.  Hence, Bilingual Education has always been a fundamental and important student right in the United States.  The table below depicts what the language landscape currently looks like in the country.  

Commonly Spoken Languages in the US