Guadalupe 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 43,372 72.39% 60,696 73.24%
Spanish 14,046 23.44% 19,810 23.91%
Other Indo-European* 2,167 3.62% 1,673 2.02%
Asian Language** 317 0.53% 629 0.76%
Other 13 0.02% 60 0.07%
Total Population Age 5+ 59,915 100.00% 82,868 100.00%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 2000
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 6,790 34.28%
Other Indo-European* 279 16.68%
Asian Language** 276 43.88%
Other Language 5 8.33%
Total 7,350 8.87%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 1990
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 6,015 42.82%
Other Indo-European* 481 22.20%
Asian Language** 120 37.85%
Other Language 5 38.46%
Total 6,621 11.05%

* "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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