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 | 27,318 | 97.59% | 27,702 | 96.82% |
| Spanish | 581 | 2.08% | 717 | 2.51% |
| Other Indo-European* | 81 | 0.29% | 127 | 0.44% |
| Asian Language** | 5 | 0.02% | 52 | 0.18% |
| Other | 9 | 0.03% | 15 | 0.05% |
| Total Population Age 5+ | 27,994 | 100.00% | 28,613 | 100.00% |
| Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 2000 | ||
| Language Spoken at Home: | Number | Percent |
| Spanish | 294 | 41.00% |
| Other Indo-European* | 24 | 18.90% |
| Asian Language** | 16 | 30.77% |
| Other Language | 0 | 0.00% |
| Total | 334 | 1.17% |
| Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 1990 | ||
| Language Spoken at Home: | Number | Percent |
| Spanish | 197 | 33.91% |
| Other Indo-European* | 9 | 11.11% |
| Asian Language** | 0 | - |
| Other Language | 0 | - |
| Total | 206 | 0.74% |
* "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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