Wicomico 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 66,593 96.31% 74,842 94.21%
Spanish 913 1.32% 1,729 2.18%
Other Indo-European* 1,050 1.52% 1,612 2.03%
Asian Language** 457 0.66% 1,105 1.39%
Other 129 0.19% 156 0.20%
Total Population Age 5+ 69,142 100.00% 79,444 100.00%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 2000
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 971 56.16%
Other Indo-European* 565 35.05%
Asian Language** 747 67.60%
Other Language 41 26.28%
Total 2,324 2.93%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 1990
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 327 35.82%
Other Indo-European* 287 27.33%
Asian Language** 265 57.99%
Other Language 45 34.88%
Total 924 1.34%

* "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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