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Wichita, KS

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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 418,183 94.00% 454,408 90.22%
Spanish 12,482 2.81% 28,547 5.67%
Other Indo-European* 7,032 1.58% 7,148 1.42%
Asian Language** 6,206 1.40% 11,452 2.27%
Other 955 0.21% 2,101 0.42%
Total Population Age 5+ 444,858 100.00% 503,656 100.00%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 2000
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 13,543 47.44%
Other Indo-European* 1,876 26.25%
Asian Language** 6,640 57.98%
Other Language 755 35.94%
Total 22,814 4.53%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 1990
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 4,861 38.94%
Other Indo-European* 1,987 28.26%
Asian Language** 3,876 62.46%
Other Language 272 28.48%
Total 10,996 2.47%

* "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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