CLI’s Language & Immigration Trends

We look at language trends all. the. time. And there are two things we know for sure: Spanish requests dominate and the top 10 requested languages rarely shift. It’s when you look down the list of 230+ languages we offer that things start to be a little more unpredictable (and interesting!).

With more than 350 languages spoken across the U.S. and an ever-shifting population enriched with communities of immigrants, refugees, asylum-seekers, and migrants, nothing is static.

To make sure we’re at the ready with interpreters in the languages you need, we keep our finger on the pulse of language and immigration trends across the country. And we’re here to share some glimpses into our monthly data insights, keeping you informed about shifts in the languages your customers speak. 

CLI brings you the latest analysis of refugee data from the Refugee Processing Center (RPC) and our internal language data for interpreting services.

April 2023

Languages with the largest month-over-month increases in requests for an interpreter in April included:

• Uzbek (spoken in Uzbekistan & Afghanistan): ↑ 40%
• Wolof (spoken in The Gambia, Mauritania & Senegal): ↑ 30%
• Armenian (spoken in Armenia, Georgia & Russia): ↑ 20%
• Mongolian (spoken in Mongolia): ↑ 13%

This month, the U.S. welcomed 6,394 refugees from 40 countries around the world.

April followed the same trend we’ve seen every month this year, with these 4 countries of origin bringing the highest number of refugees: 

• The Democratic Republic of the Congo: 2,543 refugees
• Syria: 740 refugees
• Myanmar (formerly Burma): 668 refugees
• Afghanistan: 640 refugees

The U.S. also welcomed an additional 1,637 Afghans through the Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) program. As usual, the states that resettled the highest number of SIV recipients were California, Virginia, Texas, and Washington.

Language Spotlight: Lingala
In 2022, CLI experienced a 66% year-over-year increase in requests for an interpreter in Lingala, boosting it onto our top 25 languages. Now in the second quarter of 2023, we continue to see growing requests for Lingala, a Bantu language primarily spoken in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). The DRC is located in Central Africa, the second-largest country in the continent.

Worldwide, Lingala has 25–30 million native speakers and about 35 million second-language speakers. It’s no surprise to see this increase in requests for Lingala interpreters correlated to the ongoing influx of Congolese refugees. 

The DRC is in the midst of a humanitarian crisis. According to UNHCR (the UN Refugee Agency), “In 2023, as a result of an alarming resurgence of violence generated by armed groups, 5.8 million people are displaced” and need emergency assistance. 

So far this year, the U.S. has admitted a total of 6,940 refugees from the DRC — significantly more refugees than from any other country. For 2023, the U.S. set a refugee admissions ceiling capped at 40,000 refugees per year from Africa, so we expect to see this trend continue.

March 2023

In March, languages with the largest month-over-month increases in requests for an interpreter included:

• Punjabi (spoken in India & Pakistan): ↑ 51%
• Turkish (spoken in Turkey & Cyprus): ↑ 41%
• Kinyarwanda (spoken in Rwanda): ↑ 35%
• Lingala (spoken in the Democratic Republic of the Congo): ↑ 34%

This month, the U.S. experienced a significant influx of refugees who resettled here, welcoming 6,122 refugees from 42 countries around the world.

The 4 countries of origin with the highest number of refugees in March were the same as they were last month, but with much larger increases compared to February: 

• The Democratic Republic of the Congo: 2,441 refugees (↑ 104%)
• Myanmar (formerly Burma): 1,000 refugees (↑ 206%)
• Syria: 711 refugees (↑ 100%)
• Afghanistan: 495 refugees (↑ 65%)

The U.S. also welcomed an additional 1,428 Afghans and Iraqis through the Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) program. As usual, the states that resettled the highest number of SIV recipients were California, Virginia, Texas, and Washington.

February 2023

In February, languages with the largest increases in requests for an interpreter included:

• Mixteco (spoken in Mexico): ↑ 179%
• European Portuguese (spoken in Portugal): ↑ 83%
• Urdu (spoken in India and Pakistan): ↑ 19%
• Navajo (spoken in the Navajo Nation and the U.S.): ↑ 18%

In February, the U.S. also welcomed 3,069 refugees from 41 countries around the world.

Following January’s trends, the 4 countries of origin with the highest number of refugees in February remained:

• The Democratic Republic of the Congo: 1,204 refugees
• Syria: 355 refugees
• Myanmar (formerly Burma): 327 refugees
• Afghanistan: 300 refugees

As a result, and if these trends continue, we expect to see future increases in requests for interpreters in languages that might include Lingala, Arabic, Assyrian, Kurdish, Dari, Pashto, Burmese, Rohingya, Karen, and Karenni.

This month, the U.S. welcomed an additional 1,130 Afghans and Iraqis through the Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) program. The states that resettled the highest number of SIV recipients were California, Virginia, Texas, and Washington.

January 2023

The new year is starting off with a higher demand for interpreting services — an 11% increase in requests for interpreters compared with December.

In January, the languages with the largest increases in requests included:

• Wolof (spoken in Gambia, Senegal & Mauritania): ↑ 47%
• Toisanese (spoken in China & Hong Kong): ↑ 46%
• Tagalog (spoken in the Philippines): ↑ 42%
• Korean (spoken in North Korea & South Korea): ↑ 30%

In January, the U.S. also welcomed 2,481 refugees from 38 countries around the world.

The countries of origin with the highest number of refugees were:

• The Democratic Republic of the Congo: 752 refugees
• Syria: 284 refugees
• Afghanistan: 284 refugees
• Myanmar (formerly Burma): 264 refugees

As a result, and if these trends continue, we expect to see future increases in requests for interpreters in languages that might include Lingala, Arabic, Assyrian, Kurdish, Dari, Pashto, Burmese, Rohingya, Karen, and Karenni.

A Year in Review: Languages & Refugees, 2021 to 2022

Refugee Surges Correspond with Higher Demand for Languages 

Looking back over the last year, it’s no surprise that the languages that saw the highest increase were Dari, Pashto, Ukrainian, and Lingala. This, of course, corresponds to large increases in the number of refugees resettled in the U.S. from Ukraine, Afghanistan, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo:

• Ukraine: ↑ 66%
• Afghanistan: ↑ 59%
• Democratic Republic of the Congo: ↑ 45%

In 2022, these three countries faced conflict that caused major displacement and humanitarian crises.  

“Countries across the globe continue to struggle with decades-long conflicts, economic turmoil, and the devastating effects of climate change,” states the International Rescue Committee (IRC). 

“The guardrails that once prevented such crises from spiraling out of control — including peace treaties, humanitarian aid, and accountability for violations of international law — have been weakened or dismantled.” 

Unfortunately, these countries were among the top 10 on the IRC’s 2023 Emergency Watchlist, meaning it’s probable we’ll continue to see the need for these languages well into the future.

See also: 2023 Predictions: What’s on the Horizon for Language Access and Interpreting Services

Shifts in Our Top 10 Languages

Looking at the number of requests for interpreters in CLI’s top 10 languages in 2022 compared to 2021, we saw some interesting fluctuations.

Most notably in 2022, requests for Haitian Creole increased by 34%, while requests for Somali decreased by 30%. Meanwhile, requests for Spanish, French, and Arabic hardly changed from 2021.

December 2022

In December, the U.S. welcomed 2,403 refugees from across the world. The largest influx arrived from Africa — 1,118 refugees in total — with 771 from the Democratic Republic of the Congo alone. This will likely lead to an increase in language requests in French, Kikongo, Lingala, Sango, and Swahili.

The next highest influx for the month were 368 refugees who arrived from Afghanistan. We expect to see more requests from languages spoken by those individuals, including Dari, Farsi, Pashto, and Tajik.

This month, some of our largest increases in language requests included:

• Navajo (spoken in the U.S.): ↑ 56%
• Mongolian (spoken in Mongolia): ↑ 38%
• Amharic (spoken in Ethiopia): ↑ 26%
• Armenian (spoken in Armenia, Georgia & Russia): ↑ 25%

November 2022

Overall, November showed steady growth in predictable languages. We also saw increases in languages spoken primarily in Myanmar and Ethiopia — both of which had a corresponding influx of new refugees into the U.S. during the same timeframe.

366 refugees from Myanmar (2,604 so far this year)

• 100% increase in Pwo Karen 
• 34% increase in Rohingya 
• 25% increase in Karen

41 refugees from Ethiopia (281 so far this year)

• 42% increase in Oromo
• 36% increase in Amharic

Below are a few of the other languages that experienced notable increases in requests for interpreters in November:

• 69% increase in Ilocano (spoken in the Philippines) 
• 53% increase in Gujarati (spoken in India)
• 40% increase in Hmong (spoken in Thailand, Vietnam, China & Laos)
• 38% increase in Nuer (spoken in the Republic of South Sudan)
• 24% increase in Mam (spoken in Guatemala)

October 2022

We saw notable increases in requests for languages primarily spoken in Central America and Asia in October compared with requests in September.

Central America

• 1,967% increase in Q’anjob’al and 44% increase in Mam (both spoken in Guatemala)

Asia

• 103% increase in Tibetan (spoken in Bhutan)
• 69% increase in Uzbek (spoken in Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan)
• 43% increase in Hmong (spoken in Thailand, Vietnam, China, and Laos)

Some of the increases in language requests aligned with refugees admitted to the U.S. from countries where those languages are primarily spoken:

• 1,967% increase in Q’anjob’al and 44% increase in Mam — coincided with 161 new refugees from Guatemala
• 37% increase in Karenni/Kayah (spoken in Myanmar) — coincided with 216 new refugees from Myanmar

September 2022

This month, the U.S. received the largest influx of refugees from these 3 countries of origin. Here’s a closer look at how these surges correlate with increases in requests for languages spoken in those countries.

1. The Democratic Republic of the Congo again saw the largest surge of refugees, with 2,181 newly admitted in September and 7,810 refugees so far in 2022.

• So far we haven’t seen increases in interpreter requests for languages spoken in the DRC, other than an 18% uptick in requests for Lingala.

2. The next highest surge of refugees came from Myanmar (formerly known as Burma), with 658 new arrivals admitted in September and 2,156 refugees so far in 2022. 

• This corresponded to one of the month’s largest increases in language requests, with a 225% increase for Zyphe (Zophei), primarily spoken in Myanmar. 

3. The third-highest surge in refugees came from Syria, with 493 admitted this month and 4,556 so far in 2022. 

• We also saw a 64% increase in requests for Bahdini Kurdish, a dialect spoken in the northeastern regions of Syria (as well as in Iran, Iraq, and Turkey). 

Related: Check out the most commonly spoken languages in each country

August 2022

In August, the largest influx of refugees (945!) came to the U.S. from Africa.

We tracked some of our largest monthly increases in language requests from languages spoken throughout Africa as well:

• Hausa (spoken in Nigeria): 325%
• Ewe (spoken in Togo): 213%
• Cape Verde Creole (spoken in Cape Verde): 73%

July 2022

In July, the U.S. admitted a large influx of refugees from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) — 4 times more than the next highest country of origin.

To support this growing refugee population (4,917 refugees so far in 2022!), we’re keeping close tabs on requests for the most common languages spoken in the DRC to make sure we have plenty of interpreters ready to take calls in Swahili, French, Lingala, Kikongo, and Sango.

In July, the states with the largest resettlements of refugees from the DRC include:

• Kentucky (129 refugees)
• Ohio (106 refugees)
• Texas (73 refugees)
• North Carolina (72 refugees)

CLI also saw our highest increase in language requests for Georgian interpreters (spoken in Georgia, located in Eastern Europe) — a 144% increase in July compared to June.

June 2022

Rising Demand for African and Asian Languages

Looking at the number of interpreting sessions we handled for each language in June compared to May, we found particular increases in:

• West & North African languages
  • 275% increase in Krio (spoken in Sierra Leone)
  • 66% increase in Moroccan Arabic (spoken in Morocco and Western Sahara)
  • 39% increase in Mandinka (spoken in The Gambia)
• Southeast & Western Asian languages
  • 36% increase in Yemeni Arabic (spoken in Yemen)
  • 34% increase in Rohingya (spoken in Myanmar — coinciding with 1,129 new refugees from Myanmar admitted into the U.S. in the first 6 months of 2022)