A Trump order made English the official language of the U.S. What does that mean?

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President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Saturday making English the official language of the United States - be the first time in the country's history that it will have a federally recognized national language. Here's what to know.

• What will the executive order do?

Beyond designating English as the country's official language, the order rescinds a federal mandate issued in 2000 by President Bill Clinton that required agencies and recipients of federal funding to provide extensive language assistance to non-English speakers. Trump's order lets agency heads decide whether to keep offering documents and services in other languages.

It also encourages new Americans to speak English, saying this "not only opens doors economically, but it helps newcomers engage in their communities, participate in national traditions, and give back to our society."

"This order recognizes and celebrates the long tradition of multilingual American citizens who have learned English and passed it to their children for generations to come," the White House said.

• What does having an official language mean?

An official language is the language used by the government to "conduct official, day-to-day business," according to the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance. While codifying an official language can help "define the character of the state and the cultural identity of the people within it," the institute warns that doing so may "place a particular group of people in a position of power" and exclude those whose languages are not recognized.

"The choice of an official language or languages has deep symbolic implications for the state's cultural identity," the institute adds.

More than 30 states have designated English as the official language. These include California, Colorado, Alabama, Florida and Tennessee. Hawaii has English and Hawaiian as official languages, while Alaska has several native languages, as well as English, listed in its 21 official languages.

• Why is Trump arguing for an official language?

The White House says the executive order will help foster "national cohesion" and establish "efficiency in government operations." Trump and his allies have also long tied the issue of an official language to immigration. More than 350 languages are spoken in the United States, according to federal data, but Trump repeatedly voiced concerns while campaigning about migrants coming into the country speaking foreign languages.

On the 2016 campaign trail, Trump criticized former Florida governor Jeb Bush - who was running in the GOP presidential primary at the time - for speaking Spanish while campaigning. When asked about his remarks, Trump said, "this is a country where we speak English, not Spanish."

The Trump administration removed the Spanish-language version of the official White House website within hours of his inauguration in January.

However, Republican groups have, in recent years, invested in Spanish-language messaging, and Trump ran Spanish-language ads during the 2020 and 2024 election cycles.

Immigration and voting rights advocacy groups are speaking out against the executive order. Anabel Mendoza, the communications director for the immigration advocacy nonprofit group United We Dream, said in a statement that Trump was putting "a target on the backs of Black and brown immigrants and communities who speak different languages, and we won't tolerate it."

"Trump will try to use this executive order as a crutch to attack schools providing curriculum to immigrant students in other languages, gut programs and roles that help to promote inclusive language access, and embolden immigration agents to single out and harass individuals who speak a certain way," she said.

• How widely is English spoken in the United States?

The U.S. Census Bureau's American Community Survey data from 2018 to 2022 determined that about 78.3 percent of people in the nation age 5 and older reported speaking only English at home.

ACS data also found that almost 68 million people spoke another language besides English at home in 2019. Some of the most widespread languages spoken in the United States are Spanish, Chinese, Tagalog, Vietnamese and Arabic.

However, ACS data found that just 8.4 percent of people living in the United States report speaking English "less than ‘very well.'"

There were significant variations in English-proficiency levels among the people who spoke a language other than English at home, the ACS found. For example, 52 percent of people who spoke Chinese at home spoke English "less than very well," but the number fell to 39 percent among those who spoke Spanish at home, and 30 percent for those who spoke Tagalog at home, the ACS said.

The numbers may reflect "a recent increase in immigration from Asia and newcomers who have not had enough time to assimilate and master English yet," the ACS added.

Rep. Adriano Espaillat (D-New York), who is set to deliver the Spanish-language response to Trump's joint address to Congress on Tuesday, suggested at a news conference Friday that the order would undercut the country's global competitiveness.

"It's mind-boggling if the intent is to suppress the ability of our young people to be proficient in other languages," Espaillat said. "I think that that doesn't make us competitive as a country."

• How many other countries have official languages?

An estimated 170 countries have one or more official language, according to the Associated Press. The United Kingdom, the birthplace of the English language, does not have an official language.

The Mexican constitution does not designate an official language - although Spanish is widely spoken and used for government affairs, Mexico is home to dozens of Indigenous languages.

Meanwhile, Canada has legislation designating English and French as official languages, to "ensure equality of status and equal rights and privileges" and protect the development of "English and French linguistic minority communities."

• What about Puerto Rico?

While the White House didn't detail how an official language would affect territories like Puerto Rico, where Spanish and English are official languages and most government affairs are conducted in Spanish, Rep. Pablo José Hernández, Puerto Rico's nonvoting member of Congress, said in a statement on X that the order "reflects a vision of American identity that conflicts with our Puerto Rican identity."

"There will be no statehood without assimilation, and Puerto Ricans will never surrender our identity," Hernández said. "For those of us who seek a union with the U.S. without assimilation, and U.S. citizenship with more autonomy, there is only one alternative: maintaining and strengthening the current Commonwealth relationship."