Hampshire 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 122,714 88.56% 128,539 88.28%
Spanish 3,253 2.35% 4,958 3.41%
Other Indo-European* 8,940 6.45% 7,898 5.42%
Asian Language** 3,218 2.32% 3,373 2.32%
Other 441 0.32% 831 0.57%
Total Population Age 5+ 138,566 100.00% 145,599 100.00%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 2000
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 1,435 28.94%
Other Indo-European* 1,643 20.80%
Asian Language** 1,301 38.57%
Other Language 68 8.18%
Total 4,447 3.05%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 1990
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 1,137 34.95%
Other Indo-European* 2,221 24.84%
Asian Language** 1,743 54.16%
Other Language 45 10.20%
Total 5,146 3.71%

* "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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