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Fort Wayne, IN

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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 400,237 95.21% 433,384 93.28%
Spanish 6,180 1.47% 13,485 2.90%
Other Indo-European* 12,069 2.87% 13,684 2.95%
Asian Language** 1,426 0.34% 3,169 0.68%
Other 475 0.11% 860 0.19%
Total Population Age 5+ 420,387 100.00% 464,582 100.00%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 2000
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 6,153 45.63%
Other Indo-European* 3,970 29.01%
Asian Language** 1,711 53.99%
Other Language 327 38.02%
Total 12,161 2.62%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 1990
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 2,005 32.44%
Other Indo-European* 4,760 39.44%
Asian Language** 826 57.92%
Other Language 110 23.16%
Total 7,701 1.83%

* "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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