Westmoreland 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 331,807 95.30% 337,767 96.26%
Spanish 2,183 0.63% 3,503 1.00%
Other Indo-European* 12,807 3.68% 7,857 2.24%
Asian Language** 702 0.20% 1,313 0.37%
Other 686 0.20% 453 0.13%
Total Population Age 5+ 348,185 100.00% 350,893 100.00%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 2000
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 1,275 36.40%
Other Indo-European* 1,963 24.98%
Asian Language** 632 48.13%
Other Language 107 23.62%
Total 3,977 1.13%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 1990
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 661 30.28%
Other Indo-European* 3,374 26.34%
Asian Language** 354 50.43%
Other Language 226 32.94%
Total 4,615 1.33%

* "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