Stand up for the facts!

Our only agenda is to publish the truth so you can be an informed participant in democracy.
We need your help.

More Info

I would like to contribute

Democratic presidential candidate and former Vice President Joe Biden hugs his wife, Jill Biden, after his speech during the fourth day of the Democratic National Convention, Thursday, Aug. 20, 2020, at the Chase Center in Wilmington, Del. (AP) Democratic presidential candidate and former Vice President Joe Biden hugs his wife, Jill Biden, after his speech during the fourth day of the Democratic National Convention, Thursday, Aug. 20, 2020, at the Chase Center in Wilmington, Del. (AP)

Democratic presidential candidate and former Vice President Joe Biden hugs his wife, Jill Biden, after his speech during the fourth day of the Democratic National Convention, Thursday, Aug. 20, 2020, at the Chase Center in Wilmington, Del. (AP)

Amy Sherman
By Amy Sherman August 28, 2020

Jill Biden has not called for mandatory Spanish if Joe Biden wins presidency

If Your Time is short

  • Jill Biden is studying Spanish on the Babbel app. She has not called for requiring everyone to learn Spanish.

Jill Biden is studying Spanish. But there’s no reason to believe she  would force everyone to do so if her husband is elected president, as a Facebook post claims. 

The Aug. 26 post said: "Dr. Jill Biden: ‘All Americans Will Be Required to Learn Spanish When We Win." The post states that the information came from the New York Post, but included no link to another article.

This post was flagged as part of Facebook’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Facebook).

A separate website intended to trick viewers into thinking it is the New York Post made a similar claim that Jill Biden, an English teacher, called for requiring people to learn Spanish. But we found no actual New York Post article that backs up the claim.

Some posts show images of Biden giving her Aug. 18 speech at the Democratic National Convention or her June 30 interview with "The View," but in neither one did she suggest mandatory Spanish under a Joe Biden presidency.

The Washington Post reported that Jill Biden is studying Spanish on Babbel, a mobile app for learning languages.

The vast majority of people in the U.S. speak only English at home according to the census data, while about 21.5% speak another language, with Spanish being the most common. 

About 13% speak Spanish at home.

We found no evidence that Jill Biden said that if her husband wins everyone will have to learn Spanish in the U.S. We find this claim falso y ridículo, so we rate it Pants on Fire!

This fact check is available at IFCN’s 2020 US Elections FactChat #Chatbot on WhatsApp. Click here, for more.

Our Sources

Facebook post, Aug. 26, 2020

Washington Post, Jill Biden is finally ready to be first lady. Can she help her husband beat Trump? Aug. 17, 2020

U.S. Census American Community Survey, Language information, 2018

Pew Research Center, Most Hispanic parents speak Spanish to their children, but this is less the case in later immigrant generations, April 2, 2018

Pew Research Center, Spanish is the most spoken non-English language in U.S. homes, even among non-Hispanics, Aug. 13, 2013

PolitiFact, 'Glee' says the Census Bureau projects the majority of Americans will use Spanish by 2030, Feb. 14, 2012

Email interview, Mark Hugo Lopez, director of global migration and demography research at Pew Research Center, Aug. 28, 2020

 

Browse the Truth-O-Meter

More by Amy Sherman

Jill Biden has not called for mandatory Spanish if Joe Biden wins presidency

Support independent fact-checking.
Become a member!

In a world of wild talk and fake news, help us stand up for the facts.

Sign me up