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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 1,249,241 89.02% 1,332,933 81.65%
Spanish 25,932 1.85% 69,351 4.25%
Other Indo-European* 44,527 3.17% 75,204 4.61%
Asian Language** 77,377 5.51% 137,921 8.45%
Other 6,229 0.44% 17,144 1.05%
Total Population Age 5+ 1,403,306 100.00% 1,632,553 100.00%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 2000
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 32,382 46.69%
Other Indo-European* 26,460 35.18%
Asian Language** 72,219 52.36%
Other Language 6,610 38.56%
Total 137,671 8.43%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 1990
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 8,157 31.46%
Other Indo-European* 12,075 27.12%
Asian Language** 42,568 55.01%
Other Language 2,096 33.65%
Total 64,896 4.62%

* "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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