Kitsap 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 163,186 93.66% 198,612 91.69%
Spanish 3,031 1.74% 5,419 2.50%
Other Indo-European* 3,278 1.88% 3,885 1.79%
Asian Language** 4,484 2.57% 8,198 3.78%
Other 254 0.15% 509 0.23%
Total Population Age 5+ 174,233 100.00% 216,623 100.00%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 2000
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 1,450 26.76%
Other Indo-European* 694 17.86%
Asian Language** 3,003 36.63%
Other Language 97 19.06%
Total 5,244 2.42%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 1990
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 782 25.80%
Other Indo-European* 854 26.05%
Asian Language** 1,822 40.63%
Other Language 79 31.10%
Total 3,537 2.03%

* "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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