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Savannah, GA

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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 227,062 95.52% 256,586 94.01%
Spanish 4,150 1.75% 7,402 2.71%
Other Indo-European* 4,332 1.82% 4,753 1.74%
Asian Language** 1,734 0.73% 3,368 1.23%
Other 424 0.18% 823 0.30%
Total Population Age 5+ 237,702 100.00% 272,932 100.00%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 2000
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 2,940 39.72%
Other Indo-European* 1,339 28.17%
Asian Language** 1,986 58.97%
Other Language 148 17.98%
Total 6,413 2.35%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 1990
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 1,364 32.87%
Other Indo-European* 1,202 27.75%
Asian Language** 829 47.81%
Other Language 72 16.98%
Total 3,467 1.46%

* "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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