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 | 685,202 | 86.83% | 1,100,489 | 75.93% |
| Spanish | 60,772 | 7.70% | 244,105 | 16.84% |
| Other Indo-European* | 21,571 | 2.73% | 38,042 | 2.62% |
| Asian Language** | 17,658 | 2.24% | 56,485 | 3.90% |
| Other | 3,928 | 0.50% | 10,156 | 0.70% |
| Total Population Age 5+ | 789,131 | 100.00% | 1,449,277 | 100.00% |
| Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 2000 | ||
| Language Spoken at Home: | Number | Percent |
| Spanish | 132,503 | 54.28% |
| Other Indo-European* | 9,987 | 26.25% |
| Asian Language** | 23,984 | 42.46% |
| Other Language | 3,453 | 34.00% |
| Total | 169,927 | 11.72% |
| Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 1990 | ||
| Language Spoken at Home: | Number | Percent |
| Spanish | 28,901 | 47.56% |
| Other Indo-European* | 5,176 | 24.00% |
| Asian Language** | 9,056 | 51.29% |
| Other Language | 1,456 | 37.07% |
| Total | 44,589 | 5.65% |
* "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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