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Monterey County

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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 209,386 64.54% 195,650 52.74%
Spanish 86,066 26.53% 146,443 39.48%
Other Indo-European* 12,439 3.83% 11,312 3.05%
Asian Language** 15,626 4.82% 15,975 4.31%
Other 917 0.28% 1,570 0.42%
Total Population Age 5+ 324,434 100.00% 370,950 100.00%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 2000
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 88,292 60.29%
Other Indo-European* 2,893 25.57%
Asian Language** 7,649 47.88%
Other Language 421 26.82%
Total 99,255 26.76%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 1990
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 48,627 56.50%
Other Indo-European* 3,469 27.89%
Asian Language** 8,045 51.48%
Other Language 272 29.66%
Total 60,413 18.62%

* "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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