Cochise 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 63,973 70.60% 77,529 70.45%
Spanish 22,817 25.18% 27,750 25.22%
Other Indo-European* 2,289 2.53% 2,492 2.26%
Asian Language** 1,330 1.47% 1,741 1.58%
Other 208 0.23% 535 0.49%
Total Population Age 5+ 90,617 100.00% 110,047 100.00%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 2000
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 10,135 36.52%
Other Indo-European* 595 23.88%
Asian Language** 733 42.10%
Other Language 100 18.69%
Total 11,563 10.51%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 1990
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 8,600 37.69%
Other Indo-European* 287 12.54%
Asian Language** 543 40.83%
Other Language 57 27.40%
Total 9,487 10.47%

* "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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