La Paz 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 9,484 73.84% 14,720 78.41%
Spanish 2,771 21.57% 3,515 18.72%
Other Indo-European* 257 2.00% 156 0.83%
Asian Language** 36 0.28% 49 0.26%
Other 296 2.30% 334 1.78%
Total Population Age 5+ 12,844 100.00% 18,774 100.00%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 2000
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 1,361 38.72%
Other Indo-European* 13 8.33%
Asian Language** 24 48.98%
Other Language 68 20.36%
Total 1,466 7.81%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 1990
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 1,092 39.41%
Other Indo-European* 15 5.84%
Asian Language** 13 36.11%
Other Language 36 12.16%
Total 1,156 9.00%

* "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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