By Chyung Eun-ju



Nearly 60 percent of South Koreans living in New York state speak English "less than very well," according to data from the American Community Survey (ACS) on Thursday.



The United States Census Bureau released the results of a survey called "Language Spoken at Home by Ability to speak English for the Population 5 years and over."



The report said that of the 103,229 Koreans who participated, 42,733 said they spoke English "very well," while 60,496 people said their proficiency was "less than very well."



In Queens, New York city, where many Koreans live, about 49,000 said they spoke Korean at home, and only around 13,000 said they spoke English fluently.



About 14,000 Koreans live in Manhattan, of whom 9,000 people said they were fluent in English.



New York has a population of about 18.5 million, of whom about 12.9 million speak English.



Korean was the sixth most spoken language after English. First was Spanish, then Chinese, Russian, French and German.



