Madera 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 56,662 70.25% 71,693 63.04%
Spanish 21,104 26.17% 38,011 33.42%
Other Indo-European* 2,169 2.69% 2,319 2.04%
Asian Language** 439 0.54% 869 0.76%
Other 281 0.35% 830 0.73%
Total Population Age 5+ 80,655 100.00% 113,722 100.00%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 2000
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 20,504 53.94%
Other Indo-European* 730 31.48%
Asian Language** 266 30.61%
Other Language 544 65.54%
Total 22,044 19.38%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 1990
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 10,641 50.42%
Other Indo-European* 566 26.09%
Asian Language** 308 70.16%
Other Language 128 45.55%
Total 11,643 14.44%

* "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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