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Atlanta, GA

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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 2,569,463 94.08% 3,298,600 86.69%
Spanish 63,426 2.32% 262,590 6.90%
Other Indo-European* 53,189 1.95% 121,441 3.19%
Asian Language** 34,425 1.26% 88,454 2.32%
Other 10,568 0.39% 34,103 0.90%
Total Population Age 5+ 2,731,071 100.00% 3,805,188 100.00%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 2000
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 157,652 60.04%
Other Indo-European* 40,064 32.99%
Asian Language** 49,951 56.47%
Other Language 10,196 29.90%
Total 257,863 6.78%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 1990
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 26,013 41.01%
Other Indo-European* 14,497 27.26%
Asian Language** 20,320 59.03%
Other Language 2,527 23.91%
Total 63,357 2.32%

* "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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