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Fort Myers-Cape Coral, FL

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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 289,746 91.87% 361,208 86.46%
Spanish 13,051 4.14% 36,086 8.64%
Other Indo-European* 10,766 3.41% 17,177 4.11%
Asian Language** 1,094 0.35% 2,114 0.51%
Other 731 0.23% 1,198 0.29%
Total Population Age 5+ 315,388 100.00% 417,783 100.00%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 2000
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 17,377 48.15%
Other Indo-European* 5,822 33.89%
Asian Language** 886 41.91%
Other Language 339 28.30%
Total 24,424 5.85%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 1990
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 5,163 39.56%
Other Indo-European* 3,146 29.22%
Asian Language** 439 40.13%
Other Language 172 23.53%
Total 8,920 2.83%

* "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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