United States

To which language should you translate to localize in the United States?

“English is the most common language spoken in the United States, with approximately 239 million speakers. However, there are actually between 350 and 430 languages spoken there, making it one of the most linguistically diverse countries in the world. The federal government has never declared an official language, but some state governments have adopted English as their official language, with varying policies for other languages. There are roughly 30 different major dialects in America; for example, people living in the southwest will not refer to a carbonated beverage using the same word as those from the south or east coast. Americans also have drastically different accents depending on which part of the country they come from.
After English, Spanish is spoken by over 40 million people in the USA, with some regions carrying a high percentage of this number: just consider, 42% of the population in Los Angeles are native Spanish speakers. The United States is a vast territory abounding with opportunities for companies abroad. They should make sure to localize their content for specific areas, considering other languages depending on these targets.”

Main language

American English (78%; 261.23 mln)

Actual languages

American English (78%; 261.23 mln), Spanish (13.3%; 44.54 mln), other (8.7%; 29.13 mln)

What the top 150 best localized websites in the world do in the United States

(Top 150 websites listed in the Global by Design ranking – published annually by Byte Level Research, this report provides a list of globally localized websites, showcasing best practices and emerging trends in their globalization)

• 113/150 localize by translating into English
• 25/150 localize by translating into both English and Spanish
• 1/150 localizes by translating into English, Spanish, Simplified Chines and Traditional Chinese
• 1/150 localizes by translating into English, Spanish and Simplified Chinese
• 1/150 localizes by translating into English, Spanish, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Arabic, German, Hebrew, Korean and Portuguese
• 1/150 localizes by translating into English, Spanish, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Arabic, German, Portuguese, French, Polish, Italian, Japanese, Czech, Hungarian, Dutch and Swedish
• 1/150 localizes by translating into both English and American Sign Language
• 1/150 localizes by translating into English, American Sign Language, Navajo Language, Hawaiian Language, Western Apache Language and Powhatan Language
• 1/150 localizes by translating into English, Navajo Language, Hawaiian Language and Pennsylvania German
• 1/150 localizes by translating into both English, Spanish, Traditional Chinese and Korean
• 1/150 localizes by translating into English, Spanish, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, German, Korean, Portuguese, French, Russian, Italian and Japanese
• 1/150 localizes by translating into English, Simplified Chinese and French
• 1/150 localizes by translating into English, Spanish, Simplified Chinese, German, Korean, Portuguese, French, Polish, Russian, Italian and Japanese
• 1/150 localizes by translating into both English, Spanish, Portuguese and French
• 1/150 localizes by translating into both English, Spanish and Korean