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Kalamazoo-Battle Creek, MI |
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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 | 378,208 | 95.08% | 395,813 | 93.51% |
| Spanish | 6,981 | 1.75% | 14,568 | 3.44% |
| Other Indo-European* | 9,188 | 2.31% | 7,990 | 1.89% |
| Asian Language** | 2,467 | 0.62% | 3,650 | 0.86% |
| Other | 951 | 0.24% | 1,277 | 0.30% |
| Total Population Age 5+ | 397,795 | 100.00% | 423,298 | 100.00% |
| Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 2000 | ||
| Language Spoken at Home: | Number | Percent |
| Spanish | 5,907 | 40.55% |
| Other Indo-European* | 2,150 | 26.91% |
| Asian Language** | 1,746 | 47.84% |
| Other Language | 378 | 29.60% |
| Total | 10,181 | 2.41% |
| Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 1990 | ||
| Language Spoken at Home: | Number | Percent |
| Spanish | 2,579 | 36.94% |
| Other Indo-European* | 2,678 | 29.15% |
| Asian Language** | 1,305 | 52.90% |
| Other Language | 254 | 26.71% |
| Total | 6,816 | 1.71% |
* "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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