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Fort Walton Beach, FL

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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 124,086 93.49% 147,138 92.11%
Spanish 2,982 2.25% 5,577 3.49%
Other Indo-European* 2,879 2.17% 3,126 1.96%
Asian Language** 2,544 1.92% 3,677 2.30%
Other 231 0.17% 217 0.14%
Total Population Age 5+ 132,722 100.00% 159,735 100.00%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 2000
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 1,834 32.89%
Other Indo-European* 691 22.10%
Asian Language** 1,529 41.58%
Other Language 73 33.64%
Total 4,127 2.58%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 1990
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 909 30.48%
Other Indo-European* 626 21.74%
Asian Language** 1,150 45.20%
Other Language 41 17.75%
Total 2,726 2.05%

* "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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