Inyo 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 15,652 91.63% 14,960 88.20%
Spanish 829 4.85% 1,565 9.23%
Other Indo-European* 290 1.70% 217 1.28%
Asian Language** 136 0.80% 101 0.60%
Other 175 1.02% 119 0.70%
Total Population Age 5+ 17,082 100.00% 16,962 100.00%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 2000
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 804 51.37%
Other Indo-European* 59 27.19%
Asian Language** 79 78.22%
Other Language 22 18.49%
Total 964 5.68%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 1990
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 459 55.37%
Other Indo-European* 114 39.31%
Asian Language** 39 28.68%
Other Language 57 32.57%
Total 669 3.92%

* "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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