Top 20 Languages in Devon (county council area) (source: ONS Census 2021)
- Polish (3,958 people)
- Romanian (2,161)
- Spanish (1,189)
- All other Chinese (1,177)
- Arabic (895)
- French (717)
- Portuguese (684)
- Lithuanian (652)
- Italian (638)
- Tagalog or Filipino (587)
- Bulgarian (545)
- German (541)
- Hungarian (505)
- Cantonese Chinese (457)
- Malayalam (451)
- Russian (408)
- Turkish (382)
- Bengali (361)
- British Sign Language (338)
- Greek (334)
Languages spoken in the community are not necessarily an indication of interpreting or translation needs. Local interpreting agency information (Multilingua) shows the highest demands in 2022/23 relate to the following languages, as well as British Sign Language:
- Albanian
- Arabic
- Amharic
- Bengali
- Bulgarian
- Czech
- Cantonese
- Dari / Farsi
- French
- Hungarian
- German
- Italian
- Latvian
- Lithuanian
- Mandarin
- Polish
- Pashto
- Portuguese
- Romanian
- Russian
- Slovak
- Spanish
- Tigrinya
- Turkish
- Ukrainian
In our Devon schools, over 5% of children are English as an additional language (EAL) learners, with a significant increase in the number of Ethnically diverse children joining our school communities. There is a continued high need for support for languages in Arabic, Polish, Ukrainian and Malayalam, as well as an increase in Roma-Gypsy families mainly speaking Romanian or Bulgarian as a second language.
The Ethnic Minority and Traveller Achievement Service (EMTAS) are providing support for unaccompanied asylum seekers and refugees of school age, as well as intervention and support for Traveller families – including visiting unauthorised encampments. They also lead on the improvement of equality and diversity in schools.
Please note: The information above is drawn from local intelligence and can vary from year to year. The County Council does not retain information about demand for translation and interpreting by language in relation to its services and is unable to confirm exact spend on translation and interpreting due to the range of potential providers and service needs.