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Barnstable County

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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 162,908 93.22% 197,334 93.23%
Spanish 1,706 0.98% 2,921 1.38%
Other Indo-European* 9,298 5.32% 10,203 4.82%
Asian Language** 489 0.28% 715 0.34%
Other 348 0.20% 480 0.23%
Total Population Age 5+ 174,749 100.00% 211,653 100.00%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 2000
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 778 26.63%
Other Indo-European* 3,274 32.09%
Asian Language** 294 41.12%
Other Language 65 13.54%
Total 4,411 2.08%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 1990
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 528 30.95%
Other Indo-European* 2,553 27.46%
Asian Language** 221 45.19%
Other Language 69 19.83%
Total 3,371 1.93%

* "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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