Aransas 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 13,226 79.13% 17,404 81.67%
Spanish 2,745 16.42% 2,986 14.01%
Other Indo-European* 233 1.39% 251 1.18%
Asian Language** 502 3.00% 610 2.86%
Other 9 0.05% 58 0.27%
Total Population Age 5+ 16,715 100.00% 21,309 100.00%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 2000
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 934 31.28%
Other Indo-European* 64 25.50%
Asian Language** 352 57.70%
Other Language 12 20.69%
Total 1,362 6.39%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 1990
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 998 36.36%
Other Indo-European* 28 12.02%
Asian Language** 331 65.94%
Other Language 0 -
Total 1,357 8.12%

* "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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