How to Use the MLA Language Map
- Use the language drop-down menu on the upper left to select maps that locate speakers of the top thirty languages reported to be spoken at home by US Census 2000.
- You can also select maps from the bottom of the language drop-down menu that show the prevalent language other than English spoken in each US county.
- Select a state from the state drop-down menu on the left or zoom in by clicking on the map.
- Pause between zooms until each new view is complete. Do not click continuously.
- Click Start Over if zooming too quickly brings you in too close.
- Click Show Where This Language Is Taught to see the locations of language programs in the selected language in all US colleges and universities. Language programs are identified by white bubbles sized to indicate numbers of enrollments.
- Click on language program bubbles to see institution names and 2009 course enrollments; you may need to click the
to see enrollment numbers. - If there is a box around the institutional name, click the inside the box to see other institutions teaching this language in the same area.
- Click
to reactivate the Zoom In function. - Click
to reactivate the Zoom Out function. - Click
to reactivate the Show Where This Language Is Taught pointer after zooming. - You may zoom in to the 45-mile zoom level to see simultaneously the names of all institutions teaching the mapped language.
- The default maps show the percentage by county of speakers of each language, but you may use the Show Data radio buttons on the upper right to select maps that show the number of speakers by county or zip code.
- Check Zip Code Borders in the Layers menu and click Refresh Layers to enhance zip code maps after zooming.
- For detailed tables showing numbers and ages of speakers by language, zip code, county, state, and ability to speak English, click
. - For detailed enrollment data going back as far as 1958 for over two hundred languages taught in US colleges and universities, click
.