Bastrop 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 29,330 83.03% 41,574 77.74%
Spanish 5,185 14.68% 10,863 20.31%
Other Indo-European* 724 2.05% 747 1.40%
Asian Language** 67 0.19% 148 0.28%
Other 18 0.05% 143 0.27%
Total Population Age 5+ 35,324 100.00% 53,475 100.00%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 2000
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 4,347 40.02%
Other Indo-European* 176 23.56%
Asian Language** 75 50.68%
Other Language 33 23.08%
Total 4,631 8.66%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 1990
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 2,161 41.68%
Other Indo-European* 192 26.52%
Asian Language** 36 53.73%
Other Language 0 -
Total 2,389 6.76%

* "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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