Salem 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 57,753 94.84% 56,603 93.67%
Spanish 1,370 2.25% 2,153 3.56%
Other Indo-European* 1,507 2.47% 1,282 2.12%
Asian Language** 164 0.27% 271 0.45%
Other 101 0.17% 119 0.20%
Total Population Age 5+ 60,895 100.00% 60,428 100.00%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 2000
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 1,019 47.33%
Other Indo-European* 377 29.41%
Asian Language** 144 53.14%
Other Language 58 48.74%
Total 1,598 2.64%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 1990
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 532 38.83%
Other Indo-European* 460 30.52%
Asian Language** 100 60.98%
Other Language 12 11.88%
Total 1,104 1.81%

* "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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