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Springfield, IL

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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 170,136 96.64% 182,038 96.46%
Spanish 1,573 0.89% 2,392 1.27%
Other Indo-European* 3,473 1.97% 2,567 1.36%
Asian Language** 593 0.34% 1,316 0.70%
Other 281 0.16% 405 0.21%
Total Population Age 5+ 176,056 100.00% 188,718 100.00%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 2000
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 844 35.28%
Other Indo-European* 587 22.87%
Asian Language** 468 35.56%
Other Language 58 14.32%
Total 1,957 1.04%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 1990
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 430 27.34%
Other Indo-European* 985 28.36%
Asian Language** 275 46.37%
Other Language 113 40.21%
Total 1,803 1.02%

* "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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