Garfield 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 26,062 94.58% 34,217 84.54%
Spanish 820 2.98% 5,603 13.84%
Other Indo-European* 599 2.17% 509 1.26%
Asian Language** 21 0.08% 64 0.16%
Other 54 0.20% 81 0.20%
Total Population Age 5+ 27,556 100.00% 40,474 100.00%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 2000
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 3,038 54.22%
Other Indo-European* 98 19.25%
Asian Language** 21 32.81%
Other Language 34 41.98%
Total 3,191 7.88%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 1990
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 304 37.07%
Other Indo-European* 94 15.69%
Asian Language** 13 61.90%
Other Language 35 64.81%
Total 446 1.62%

* "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).

Home | About | Help | Contact | Use Policy