Alpine 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 939 90.81% 1,053 91.80%
Spanish 28 2.71% 40 3.49%
Other Indo-European* 21 2.03% 14 1.22%
Asian Language** 0 0.00% 3 0.26%
Other 46 4.45% 37 3.23%
Total Population Age 5+ 1,034 100.00% 1,147 100.00%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 2000
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 16 40.00%
Other Indo-European* 6 42.86%
Asian Language** 0 0.00%
Other Language 13 35.14%
Total 35 3.05%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 1990
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 3 10.71%
Other Indo-European* 0 -
Asian Language** 0 -
Other Language 4 8.70%
Total 7 0.68%

* "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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