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Idaho

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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 867,708 93.63% 1,084,914 90.65%
Spanish 37,081 4.00% 80,241 6.70%
Other Indo-European* 12,742 1.37% 19,460 1.63%
Asian Language** 5,059 0.55% 8,105 0.68%
Other 4,113 0.44% 4,073 0.34%
Total Population Age 5+ 926,703 100.00% 1,196,793 100.00%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 2000
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 36,459 45.44%
Other Indo-European* 5,461 28.06%
Asian Language** 3,553 43.84%
Other Language 1,066 26.17%
Total 46,539 3.89%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 1990
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 15,410 41.56%
Other Indo-European* 3,317 26.03%
Asian Language** 2,287 45.21%
Other Language 1,282 31.17%
Total 22,296 2.41%

* "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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