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Humboldt County

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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 103,714 93.72% 109,493 91.69%
Spanish 2,417 2.18% 5,442 4.56%
Other Indo-European* 2,748 2.48% 2,567 2.15%
Asian Language** 1,410 1.27% 1,276 1.07%
Other 380 0.34% 645 0.54%
Total Population Age 5+ 110,669 100.00% 119,423 100.00%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 2000
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 2,142 39.36%
Other Indo-European* 581 22.63%
Asian Language** 643 50.39%
Other Language 172 26.67%
Total 3,538 2.96%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 1990
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 791 32.73%
Other Indo-European* 794 28.89%
Asian Language** 929 65.89%
Other Language 104 27.37%
Total 2,618 2.37%

* "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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