NationMaster - Trinidadian-Tobagonian Language statistics

English status National language. Bible 1535-1989.
English-speaking population > First language	2,600	[37th of 62]
English-speaking population > Total	2,600	[78th of 99]
Languages English (official), Caribbean Hindustani (a dialect of Hindi), French, Spanish, Chinese
Languages of the African Union > Illiteracy > Literacy rate	98.5	[43rd of 174]
Nobel Prize in Literature > Most awarded countries > %	0.98	[23rd of 37]
Nobel Prize in Literature > Most awarded countries > Laureates	1	[23rd of 37]
Spanish status Users seem to be second language users only. Frequent contact with Venezuelan fishing communities that lie nine miles off the coast of Trinidad. Bible 1553-1979.

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SOURCES: Ethnologue; Wikipedia: List of countries by English-speaking population ; Wikipedia: List of countries by English-speaking population; All CIA World Factbooks 18 December 2003 to 18 December 2008; Wikipedia: Languages of the African Union ; Wikipedia: Nobel Prize in Literature

ALTERNATIVE NAMES: Trinidad and Tobago, Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, trinidad & tobago, trinidad tobago, trin. and tob.

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COMMENTARY

Scott
22nd May 2009

The statistics on this site are to be taken with a grain of salt judging by those for my home state, Trinidad & Tobago. The country is listed as having "2,600" people with English as a first language. I can assure you that all 1.3 million (not 1 million) citizens speak English as first language. Of course, there is a spoken local dialect with intonation and vocabulary from French, Arawak and Spanish but everyone is schooled in English and all the audiovisual media are in English. The country has a higher literacy rate than the "greatest nation of earth" (i.e. the U.S.) and, judging from my stay in the US, the level of literacy is on a different plane.

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