Maui 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 72,048 77.74% 90,879 75.94%
Spanish 912 0.98% 2,613 2.18%
Other Indo-European* 1,379 1.49% 1,943 1.62%
Asian Language** 18,294 19.74% 24,069 20.11%
Other 46 0.05% 171 0.14%
Total Population Age 5+ 92,679 100.00% 119,675 100.00%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 2000
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 940 35.97%
Other Indo-European* 372 19.15%
Asian Language** 12,938 53.75%
Other Language 34 19.88%
Total 14,284 11.94%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 1990
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 256 28.07%
Other Indo-European* 237 17.19%
Asian Language** 9,696 53.00%
Other Language 9 19.57%
Total 10,198 11.00%

* "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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