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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 1,698,821 90.12% 1,888,437 83.48%
Spanish 33,067 1.75% 90,032 3.98%
Other Indo-European* 56,254 2.98% 96,614 4.27%
Asian Language** 89,343 4.74% 166,820 7.37%
Other 7,550 0.40% 20,370 0.90%
Total Population Age 5+ 1,885,035 100.00% 2,262,273 100.00%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 2000
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 40,736 45.25%
Other Indo-European* 34,192 35.39%
Asian Language** 86,119 51.62%
Other Language 7,660 37.60%
Total 168,707 7.46%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 1990
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 10,117 30.60%
Other Indo-European* 15,312 27.22%
Asian Language** 48,234 53.99%
Other Language 2,584 34.23%
Total 76,247 4.04%

* "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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