Sandoval 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 36,490 63.90% 56,904 68.24%
Spanish 10,309 18.05% 13,693 16.42%
Other Indo-European* 1,191 2.09% 1,251 1.50%
Asian Language** 223 0.39% 417 0.50%
Other 8,890 15.57% 11,117 13.33%
Total Population Age 5+ 57,103 100.00% 83,382 100.00%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 2000
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 2,559 18.69%
Other Indo-European* 259 20.70%
Asian Language** 187 44.84%
Other Language 4,348 39.11%
Total 7,353 8.82%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 1990
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 1,831 17.76%
Other Indo-European* 271 22.75%
Asian Language** 79 35.43%
Other Language 4,240 47.69%
Total 6,421 11.24%

* "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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