Clark 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 207,291 94.41% 281,613 88.52%
Spanish 3,739 1.70% 11,369 3.57%
Other Indo-European* 4,332 1.97% 15,131 4.76%
Asian Language** 3,514 1.60% 8,557 2.69%
Other 687 0.31% 1,482 0.47%
Total Population Age 5+ 219,563 100.00% 318,152 100.00%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 2000
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 5,176 45.53%
Other Indo-European* 7,876 52.05%
Asian Language** 4,200 49.08%
Other Language 386 26.05%
Total 17,638 5.54%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 1990
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 1,286 34.39%
Other Indo-European* 1,229 28.37%
Asian Language** 1,821 51.82%
Other Language 220 32.02%
Total 4,556 2.08%

* "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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