Montgomery 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 154,214 91.92% 233,746 86.16%
Spanish 10,250 6.11% 31,077 11.45%
Other Indo-European* 2,360 1.41% 4,258 1.57%
Asian Language** 708 0.42% 1,854 0.68%
Other 240 0.14% 363 0.13%
Total Population Age 5+ 167,772 100.00% 271,298 100.00%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 2000
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 15,344 49.37%
Other Indo-European* 781 18.34%
Asian Language** 666 35.92%
Other Language 67 18.46%
Total 16,858 6.21%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 1990
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 4,750 46.34%
Other Indo-European* 518 21.95%
Asian Language** 363 51.27%
Other Language 73 30.42%
Total 5,704 3.40%

* "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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