Lehigh 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 241,465 88.83% 248,723 84.74%
Spanish 11,975 4.41% 24,602 8.38%
Other Indo-European* 13,138 4.83% 12,035 4.10%
Asian Language** 2,305 0.85% 4,043 1.38%
Other 2,945 1.08% 4,115 1.40%
Total Population Age 5+ 271,828 100.00% 293,518 100.00%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 2000
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 9,769 39.71%
Other Indo-European* 3,144 26.12%
Asian Language** 1,902 47.04%
Other Language 1,727 41.97%
Total 16,542 5.64%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 1990
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 5,428 45.33%
Other Indo-European* 3,810 29.00%
Asian Language** 1,281 55.57%
Other Language 1,186 40.27%
Total 11,705 4.31%

* "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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