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San Joaquin 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 316,636 72.09% 344,240 66.27%
Spanish 67,234 15.31% 110,158 21.21%
Other Indo-European* 15,591 3.55% 18,000 3.47%
Asian Language** 38,558 8.78% 45,066 8.68%
Other 1,191 0.27% 1,981 0.38%
Total Population Age 5+ 439,210 100.00% 519,445 100.00%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 2000
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 56,753 51.52%
Other Indo-European* 6,406 35.59%
Asian Language** 26,407 58.60%
Other Language 612 30.89%
Total 90,178 17.36%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 1990
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 31,884 47.42%
Other Indo-European* 4,820 30.92%
Asian Language** 26,329 68.28%
Other Language 354 29.72%
Total 63,387 14.43%

* "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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