The San Francisco City Board of Supervisors (California, USA) approved Vietnamese as the official language of the city, alongside Chinese, Spanish and Filipino, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.
This is an important decision, marking the growing presence of the Vietnamese community in San Francisco and the increasingly important role of the Vietnamese language in the city's cultural and social life.
The decision comes after the San Francisco Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to amend a local ordinance to lower the threshold for speakers required for a language to be recognized as an official language from 10,000 to 6,000. According to the 2020 census, there are 6,791 people in San Francisco who speak Vietnamese as their primary language at home.
Recognizing Vietnamese as an official language is an act of respect for the Vietnamese language in particular and the Vietnamese people in general.
Additionally, Vietnamese will be a mandatory language for translation services under the new regulations. This move by San Francisco is intended to ensure that residents can receive services in the language they are most comfortable with.
Previously, a 2001 ordinance in San Francisco required departments to provide translation services for any language with at least 10,000 speakers in a context where English is not widely used in the city. The new regulation adds Vietnamese to the list of languages for which translation is required, to better meet the needs of the Vietnamese community living here.
The ordinance was introduced by District 10 Supervisor Shamann Walton last year, as San Francisco officials recognized the need to expand language to ensure immigrant communities had access to the machinery of government.
The amendment also encourages departments to increase staffing to provide bilingual services and maintain bilingual staff. San Francisco will have approximately 2,700 bilingual staff in fiscal year 2022-2023, down nearly 6% from the same period last year.
Recognizing Vietnamese as an official language will bring many benefits to the Vietnamese community in San Francisco. Vietnamese people will have more opportunities to participate in government and community activities. Recognizing Vietnamese will help preserve the culture and identity of Vietnamese people in this American city.
For those who support the move, the change is a necessary step in addressing language access challenges. It also serves as a “reminder” to comply with language assistance regulations for immigrants. There have been complaints about city staff not providing services in Spanish, highlighting the need to ensure all residents have access to public services in their own language.
San Francisco is a city with many Vietnamese people living there.
This change not only improves access to services for Vietnamese speakers, but also highlights the importance of complying with language assistance regulations for other immigrant communities. Ensuring translation services in common languages will help city agencies better serve residents and create an equitable, diverse, and inclusive living environment.
This is a welcome event for the Vietnamese community in San Francisco and an important step forward in promoting multilingualism and multiculturalism in the city.
In addition to San Francisco, Vietnamese is also recognized as an official language in several other cities in the United States, including Westminster (California), Garden Grove (California) and Seattle (Washington).
The recognition of Vietnamese as an official language is a sign of the growing presence and influence of the Vietnamese community in the United States.
