Brevard 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 345,556 92.68% 412,102 91.26%
Spanish 11,204 3.01% 18,320 4.06%
Other Indo-European* 11,951 3.21% 14,656 3.25%
Asian Language** 2,885 0.77% 4,689 1.04%
Other 1,249 0.33% 1,786 0.40%
Total Population Age 5+ 372,845 100.00% 451,553 100.00%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 2000
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 5,872 32.05%
Other Indo-European* 3,358 22.91%
Asian Language** 2,070 44.15%
Other Language 569 31.86%
Total 11,869 2.63%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 1990
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 3,608 32.20%
Other Indo-European* 3,072 25.70%
Asian Language** 1,391 48.21%
Other Language 445 35.63%
Total 8,516 2.28%

* "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).

Home | About | Help | Contact | Use Policy