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Montgomery County

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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 581,907 92.06% 635,062 90.38%
Spanish 8,012 1.27% 14,182 2.02%
Other Indo-European* 29,488 4.67% 30,107 4.28%
Asian Language** 9,994 1.58% 19,373 2.76%
Other 2,670 0.42% 3,938 0.56%
Total Population Age 5+ 632,071 100.00% 702,662 100.00%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 2000
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 5,227 36.86%
Other Indo-European* 7,992 26.55%
Asian Language** 9,832 50.75%
Other Language 835 21.20%
Total 23,886 3.40%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 1990
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 2,429 30.32%
Other Indo-European* 8,799 29.84%
Asian Language** 5,197 52.00%
Other Language 744 27.87%
Total 17,169 2.72%

* "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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