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The San Francisco Board of Supervisors (California, USA) has approved Vietnamese as an 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.
This decision was made after the San Francisco Board of Supervisors unanimously voted to amend a local ordinance to lower the threshold of speakers required for a language to be recognized as an official language from 10,000 to 6,000. According to the 2020 census, 6,791 people in San Francisco use 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 aims to ensure that residents can be served in the language they feel most comfortable with.
Previously, a 2001 ordinance in San Francisco required government departments to provide translation services for any language spoken by at least 10,000 people, given the limited use of English in the city. The new regulation adds Vietnamese to the list of languages requiring translation, aiming to better meet the needs of the Vietnamese community residing there.
The executive order was submitted last year by 10th District Supervisor Shamann Walton, when San Francisco officials recognized the need to expand language support to ensure immigrant communities could access government services.
The amendments also encourage departments to increase their bilingual service staff and maintain bilingual employees. San Francisco had approximately 2,700 bilingual employees in fiscal year 2022-2023, a decrease of nearly 6% from the previous year.
Recognizing Vietnamese as an official language would bring many benefits to the Vietnamese community in San Francisco. Vietnamese people would have more opportunities to participate in government and community activities. Recognizing Vietnamese would also help preserve Vietnamese culture and identity in this American city.
For those who support the move, the change is necessary in an effort to address language access difficulties. It also serves as a "reminder" of compliance with regulations supporting language services for immigrants. Previously, there have been complaints about city staff not providing services in Spanish, highlighting the need to ensure all residents can access public services in their own language.
San Francisco is a city with a large Vietnamese population.
This change not only improves access to services for Vietnamese speakers but also underscores the importance of complying with language support regulations for other immigrant communities. Ensuring translation services in common languages will help city agencies better serve residents and create a fair, diverse, and inclusive living environment.
This is a welcome event for the Vietnamese community in San Francisco and an important step in promoting multilingualism and multiculturalism in the city.
Besides 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 growth and influence of the Vietnamese community in the United States.
