Kent 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 138,861 91.97% 143,864 91.52%
Spanish 1,335 0.88% 2,902 1.85%
Other Indo-European* 9,799 6.49% 8,396 5.34%
Asian Language** 773 0.51% 1,510 0.96%
Other 213 0.14% 519 0.33%
Total Population Age 5+ 150,981 100.00% 157,191 100.00%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 2000
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 921 31.74%
Other Indo-European* 2,298 27.37%
Asian Language** 700 46.36%
Other Language 183 35.26%
Total 4,102 2.61%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 1990
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 339 25.39%
Other Indo-European* 2,999 30.61%
Asian Language** 291 37.65%
Other Language 36 16.90%
Total 3,665 2.43%

* "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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