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Albany-Schenectady-Troy, NY

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LANGUAGE

The Census asks questions about language use at home to locate groups of people who speak a language other than English. Their isolation or integration into a primarily English speaking community can be determined by their ability to speak English proficiently.

Language Spoken at Home, 1990-2000
1990 2000
Number Percent Number Percent
Only English 741,412 92.37% 755,171 91.76%
Spanish 12,864 1.60% 20,151 2.45%
Other Indo-European* 40,149 5.00% 35,327 4.29%
Asian Language** 5,956 0.74% 8,810 1.07%
Other 2,278 0.28% 3,556 0.43%
Total Population Age 5+ 802,659 100.00% 823,015 100.00%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 2000
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 6,379 31.66%
Other Indo-European* 9,975 28.24%
Asian Language** 3,993 45.32%
Other Language 1,200 33.75%
Total 21,547 2.62%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 1990
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 4,019 31.24%
Other Indo-European* 11,982 29.84%
Asian Language** 2,617 43.94%
Other Language 688 30.20%
Total 19,306 2.41%

* "Other Indo-European" excludes English and Spanish. "Indo-European" is not synonymous with "European." French, German, Hindi, and Persian are all classified as Indo-European. Hungarian, on the other hand, is lumped into "Other Language."

** "Asian Language" includes languages indigenous to Asia and Pacific islands areas that are not also Indo-European languages. Chinese, Japanese, Telugu, and Hawaiian are all classified here.

Also note that ability to speak English "very well" is based on the self-assessment of those responding to Census questions, not on a test of language ability.

Source: Census 2000 analyzed by the Social Science Data Analysis Network (SSDAN).

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