Cumberland 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 213,455 94.35% 235,349 94.05%
Spanish 1,260 0.56% 2,289 0.91%
Other Indo-European* 9,961 4.40% 9,426 3.77%
Asian Language** 1,295 0.57% 2,433 0.97%
Other 264 0.12% 740 0.30%
Total Population Age 5+ 226,235 100.00% 250,237 100.00%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 2000
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 614 26.82%
Other Indo-European* 2,245 23.82%
Asian Language** 1,075 44.18%
Other Language 341 46.08%
Total 4,275 1.71%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 1990
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 308 24.44%
Other Indo-European* 2,693 27.04%
Asian Language** 770 59.46%
Other Language 40 15.15%
Total 3,811 1.68%

* "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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