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 | 4,900,334 | 95.22% | 5,295,736 | 93.60% |
| Spanish | 90,146 | 1.75% | 185,576 | 3.28% |
| Other Indo-European* | 123,751 | 2.40% | 126,530 | 2.24% |
| Asian Language** | 22,894 | 0.44% | 36,707 | 0.65% |
| Other | 9,035 | 0.18% | 13,269 | 0.23% |
| Total Population Age 5+ | 5,146,160 | 100.00% | 5,657,818 | 100.00% |
| Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 2000 | ||
| Language Spoken at Home: | Number | Percent |
| Spanish | 84,355 | 45.46% |
| Other Indo-European* | 37,637 | 29.75% |
| Asian Language** | 17,798 | 48.49% |
| Other Language | 3,637 | 27.41% |
| Total | 143,427 | 2.54% |
| Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 1990 | ||
| Language Spoken at Home: | Number | Percent |
| Spanish | 31,276 | 34.69% |
| Other Indo-European* | 41,879 | 33.84% |
| Asian Language** | 11,017 | 48.12% |
| Other Language | 2,810 | 31.10% |
| Total | 86,982 | 1.69% |
* "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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