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Santa Cruz 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 168,192 78.82% 173,472 72.21%
Spanish 33,281 15.60% 53,314 22.19%
Other Indo-European* 7,154 3.35% 7,914 3.29%
Asian Language** 4,053 1.90% 4,850 2.02%
Other 720 0.34% 683 0.28%
Total Population Age 5+ 213,400 100.00% 240,233 100.00%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 2000
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 30,251 56.74%
Other Indo-European* 1,827 23.09%
Asian Language** 2,128 43.88%
Other Language 193 28.26%
Total 34,399 14.32%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 1990
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 19,234 57.79%
Other Indo-European* 1,832 25.61%
Asian Language** 2,038 50.28%
Other Language 244 33.89%
Total 23,348 10.94%

* "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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