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Scranton--Wilkes-Barre--Hazlet, PA

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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 564,542 94.04% 563,508 95.02%
Spanish 4,626 0.77% 8,305 1.40%
Other Indo-European* 28,555 4.76% 18,392 3.10%
Asian Language** 1,539 0.26% 1,751 0.30%
Other 1,060 0.18% 1,110 0.19%
Total Population Age 5+ 600,322 100.00% 593,066 100.00%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 2000
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 3,064 36.89%
Other Indo-European* 4,875 26.51%
Asian Language** 886 50.60%
Other Language 315 28.38%
Total 9,140 1.54%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 1990
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 1,464 31.65%
Other Indo-European* 7,301 25.57%
Asian Language** 711 46.20%
Other Language 267 25.19%
Total 9,743 1.62%

* "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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