Guilford 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 312,421 96.17% 357,623 90.83%
Spanish 4,680 1.44% 18,262 4.64%
Other Indo-European* 5,037 1.55% 8,636 2.19%
Asian Language** 2,117 0.65% 6,470 1.64%
Other 615 0.19% 2,757 0.70%
Total Population Age 5+ 324,870 100.00% 393,748 100.00%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 2000
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 10,198 55.84%
Other Indo-European* 2,865 33.18%
Asian Language** 4,097 63.32%
Other Language 1,018 36.92%
Total 18,178 4.62%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 1990
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 1,767 37.76%
Other Indo-European* 1,737 34.48%
Asian Language** 1,347 63.63%
Other Language 254 41.30%
Total 5,105 1.57%

* "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).

Home | About | Help | Contact | Use Policy