The Column

Monday, March 8, 2010

Census note arrives, in six languages

Got a note from the Census Bureau today, a one-page message to let me
know the forms will arrive in about a week.

The letter ends with this: "Go to 2010census.gov for help completing
your 2010 Census form when it arrives."

What's interesting is that the tag line is written in six languages. I'm
curious how the Bureau (especially because Phoenix is the return address
on this note) determines which languages to include here.

There's English on this note. Spanish. Vietnamese, I think. And three
that I find totally unreadable because they don't use characters you
usually find on a typewriter.

But not French. So if I told them I'm French Canadian, am I exempt from
filling out my census?

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