Indian River County

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 79,270 92.88% 96,498 89.56%
Spanish 2,602 3.05% 6,925 6.43%
Other Indo-European* 3,017 3.53% 3,527 3.27%
Asian Language** 239 0.28% 585 0.54%
Other 223 0.26% 210 0.19%
Total Population Age 5+ 85,351 100.00% 107,745 100.00%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 2000
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 3,589 51.83%
Other Indo-European* 880 24.95%
Asian Language** 200 34.19%
Other Language 82 39.05%
Total 4,751 4.41%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 1990
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 1,209 46.46%
Other Indo-European* 763 25.29%
Asian Language** 60 25.10%
Other Language 91 40.81%
Total 2,123 2.49%

* "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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