2020全美人口普查重點問題集
2020全美人口普查問題有中文翻譯？
全美人口普查（Census）將在明年2020年正式登場。普查的結果也事關國會議員席位、選區重畫、以及政府未來撥款等重要事宜。本報徵集各界提問，採訪專家，歸納匯總成為「人口普查
Q&A」專欄，以一問一答的形式來解釋所有相關人口普查的疑問，每月刊出一次。今天是本專欄的第一期。讀者有任何問題可發電郵到：census@chinesenews.com。
Q：我並非公民，需不需要參與人口普查？
A：無論任何移民身分，每一個居住在美國的人都應該參與人口普查。公民，綠卡持有者，工作簽證、學生簽證持有者，甚至是無證移民，都是人口普查的調查對象。人口普查是全美每十年一
次的人數統計工作，由憲法所規定。
Q：人口普查會問我那些問題？
A：人口普查原理就是統計在2020年4月1日當天的這一時間點，居住在同一個地址上的人。因此問題包括：4月1日當天居住在同一地址上的人數多少，這些人的名字、性別、年齡、族裔，以及
居住人士是租客還是房主，相互關係等。本次人口普查不會詢問受訪人是否是美國公民的問題。
Q：有哪些方式參與？
A：主要是三種方式，居民可以選擇上網參與人口普查，或者回覆信件，以及打電話。如果上述三種都沒有回音，政府則會在5月起，派人口普查員上門進行人口普查。上述活動將會在2020年3
月逐步展開，目前民眾無需作任何提前準備。民眾將在2020年3月12日左右，陸續在家中郵箱收到由人口普查局寄出的邀請信。邀請所有居住在同一個住址裡的人共同填寫一份人口普查登記表。
Q：我英語不好，人口普查會不會有中文問卷或者翻譯服務？
A：部分有，部分沒有。首先，人口普查的紙質問卷沒有中文版，只有英語和西班牙語。其次，電話問答和上網在線的問卷則有中文服務。電話問答提供粵語和國語兩種語言，網路在線的電子
問卷則提供繁體和簡體中文版的問卷。但是，無論是紙質還是上網填問卷，都必須用英語作答，不能寫中文。因此人口普查局也在積極和舊金山華埠社區組織聯合舉辦人口普查的參與活動，提
供電子設備和現場語言協助（問卷翻譯對照的卡片），讓更多的不說英語、不用電腦的移民能夠參與進來。
Q：政府是如何決定提供哪幾種語言的翻譯協助？
A：除紙本問卷之外，中文語言在人口普查多種翻譯協助中均有提供。人口普查局通過使用了2016年「美國社區調查」（American Community Survey）的五年數據，確認全美的不說英語且
家庭成員英語水平不佳的家庭中，所使用的最多的語言是那些。根據這個使用非英語的家庭數量的高低，政府再來決定所提供的翻譯的廣泛程度。根據這個五年數據，西班牙語名列第一，是全
美最多非英語家庭中所使用的語言。其次（按順序）是中文、越南語、韓語、俄羅斯語。
Everyone needs to participate in the Census. Will there be Chinese translation help?
The Census will officially debut in 2020 next year. The results of the census are relevant to congress representation, redrawing of the legislative district, and future government funding.
The World Journal collects questions from the public, interviews experts, and summarizes them into the “Census Q&A” column, explaining all relevant confusions in a question-and-answer format. This is the first issue of this column.
Q: I am not a US citizen. Do I need to participate in the census?
A: Everyone living in the United States should participate in the census regardless of immigration status. Citizens, green card holders, work visas, student visa holders, and even undocumented immigrants should all be counted. The census is a statistical work on the number of people in the United States every ten years. It’s written in the U.S. Constitution.
Q: What will the Census questionnaire ask me?
A: The principle of the census is to count people who live at all addresses in the United States on April 1, 2020. So the questions include: how many people live on that address on April 1, 2020, their names, gender, age, ethnicity, and whether the residents are tenants or homeowners, and residents’ relationships. This census will not ask if the respondent is a U.S. citizen.
Q: What are the ways to participate?
A: There are three main ways that residents can choose to participate in the census: online, reply to the mail, and make phone calls. If no response received from the above three ways, the government will send staff for a visit in person. The census work will be carried out in March 2020, and the public does not need to make any preparation in advance now. Starting around March 12, 2020, some of the addresses will receive the invitation letter.
Q: My English is not good. Does the census have a Chinese questionnaire or translation service?
A: Some have, some don’t. First, the paper questionnaire for the census does not provide the Chinese version, only English and Spanish. However, the telephone call and online questionnaires both have the Chinese translation. The telephone call method is available in both Cantonese and Mandarin. The online questionnaire provides both simplified and traditional Chinese version.
But all the answers should be in the English language.
Q: How does the government decide which languages’ translation assistance should be provided?
A: Except for the paper questionnaire, Chinese translation is available in online and phone call in the Census 2020. The Census Bureau used the five-year data from the 2016 American Community Survey to identify the most spoken languages in households that do not speak English and whose English skills are limited. According to this five-year data, Spanish ranks the first, used by most non-English speaking households in the United States. Then (in order) are Chinese, Vietnamese, Korean, and Russian.
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