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Portland-Vancouver, OR-WA |
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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 | 1,293,397 | 92.14% | 1,527,379 | 85.62% |
| Spanish | 35,630 | 2.54% | 111,158 | 6.23% |
| Other Indo-European* | 35,858 | 2.55% | 69,204 | 3.88% |
| Asian Language** | 33,480 | 2.39% | 66,678 | 3.74% |
| Other | 5,334 | 0.38% | 9,454 | 0.53% |
| Total Population Age 5+ | 1,403,699 | 100.00% | 1,783,873 | 100.00% |
| Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 2000 | ||
| Language Spoken at Home: | Number | Percent |
| Spanish | 60,627 | 54.54% |
| Other Indo-European* | 28,680 | 41.44% |
| Asian Language** | 35,837 | 53.75% |
| Other Language | 3,151 | 33.33% |
| Total | 128,295 | 7.19% |
| Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 1990 | ||
| Language Spoken at Home: | Number | Percent |
| Spanish | 15,161 | 42.55% |
| Other Indo-European* | 11,344 | 31.64% |
| Asian Language** | 17,954 | 53.63% |
| Other Language | 1,704 | 31.95% |
| Total | 46,163 | 3.29% |
* "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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