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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 22,272 96.48% 21,582 95.62%
Spanish 282 1.22% 457 2.02%
Other Indo-European* 429 1.86% 457 2.02%
Asian Language** 73 0.32% 45 0.20%
Other 28 0.12% 29 0.13%
Total Population Age 5+ 23,084 100.00% 22,570 100.00%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 2000
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 165 36.11%
Other Indo-European* 83 18.16%
Asian Language** 23 51.11%
Other Language 15 51.72%
Total 286 1.27%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 1990
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 37 13.12%
Other Indo-European* 140 32.63%
Asian Language** 26 35.62%
Other Language 0 -
Total 203 0.88%

* "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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