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 | 632,813 | 77.37% | 615,323 | 71.58% |
| Spanish | 71,595 | 8.75% | 123,616 | 14.38% |
| Other Indo-European* | 85,504 | 10.45% | 84,695 | 9.85% |
| Asian Language** | 20,768 | 2.54% | 26,176 | 3.04% |
| Other | 7,180 | 0.88% | 9,852 | 1.15% |
| Total Population Age 5+ | 817,860 | 100.00% | 859,662 | 100.00% |
| Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 2000 | ||
| Language Spoken at Home: | Number | Percent |
| Spanish | 63,724 | 51.55% |
| Other Indo-European* | 27,907 | 32.95% |
| Asian Language** | 12,058 | 46.07% |
| Other Language | 2,367 | 24.03% |
| Total | 106,056 | 12.34% |
| Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 1990 | ||
| Language Spoken at Home: | Number | Percent |
| Spanish | 35,863 | 50.09% |
| Other Indo-European* | 29,523 | 34.53% |
| Asian Language** | 10,863 | 52.31% |
| Other Language | 2,029 | 28.26% |
| Total | 78,278 | 9.57% |
* "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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