Chautauqua 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 123,433 93.44% 122,179 92.79%
Spanish 3,501 2.65% 5,015 3.81%
Other Indo-European* 4,765 3.61% 4,114 3.12%
Asian Language** 246 0.19% 208 0.16%
Other 148 0.11% 161 0.12%
Total Population Age 5+ 132,093 100.00% 131,677 100.00%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 2000
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 2,195 43.77%
Other Indo-European* 1,227 29.82%
Asian Language** 91 43.75%
Other Language 63 39.13%
Total 3,576 2.72%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 1990
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 1,281 36.59%
Other Indo-European* 1,508 31.65%
Asian Language** 144 58.54%
Other Language 65 43.92%
Total 2,998 2.27%

* "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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