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Norfolk-Virginia Beach-Newport News, VA-NC |
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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 | 1,243,291 | 93.94% | 1,349,913 | 92.41% |
| Spanish | 27,999 | 2.12% | 45,379 | 3.11% |
| Other Indo-European* | 27,949 | 2.11% | 31,190 | 2.14% |
| Asian Language** | 22,373 | 1.69% | 30,340 | 2.08% |
| Other | 1,919 | 0.14% | 4,032 | 0.28% |
| Total Population Age 5+ | 1,323,531 | 100.00% | 1,460,854 | 100.00% |
| Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 2000 | ||
| Language Spoken at Home: | Number | Percent |
| Spanish | 13,915 | 30.66% |
| Other Indo-European* | 8,335 | 26.72% |
| Asian Language** | 12,864 | 42.40% |
| Other Language | 959 | 23.78% |
| Total | 36,073 | 2.47% |
| Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 1990 | ||
| Language Spoken at Home: | Number | Percent |
| Spanish | 8,653 | 30.90% |
| Other Indo-European* | 7,084 | 25.35% |
| Asian Language** | 9,410 | 42.06% |
| Other Language | 550 | 28.66% |
| Total | 25,697 | 1.94% |
* "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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