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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 571,985 73.80% 583,116 71.12%
Spanish 10,927 1.41% 13,304 1.62%
Other Indo-European* 10,265 1.32% 9,594 1.17%
Asian Language** 181,085 23.36% 212,306 25.89%
Other 801 0.10% 1,594 0.19%
Total Population Age 5+ 775,063 100.00% 819,914 100.00%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 2000
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 3,201 24.06%
Other Indo-European* 2,328 24.27%
Asian Language** 107,508 50.64%
Other Language 513 32.18%
Total 113,550 13.85%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 1990
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 2,715 24.85%
Other Indo-European* 2,153 20.97%
Asian Language** 94,869 52.39%
Other Language 190 23.72%
Total 99,927 12.89%

* "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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