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Imperial 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 35,943 36.19% 42,305 32.16%
Spanish 61,300 61.73% 85,907 65.31%
Other Indo-European* 651 0.66% 685 0.52%
Asian Language** 1,040 1.05% 2,178 1.66%
Other 372 0.37% 455 0.35%
Total Population Age 5+ 99,306 100.00% 131,530 100.00%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 2000
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 43,554 50.70%
Other Indo-European* 153 22.34%
Asian Language** 1,288 59.14%
Other Language 149 32.75%
Total 45,144 34.32%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 1990
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 30,709 50.10%
Other Indo-European* 192 29.49%
Asian Language** 500 48.08%
Other Language 121 32.53%
Total 31,522 31.74%

* "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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