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Williamsport, PA

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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 107,109 96.92% 109,699 96.68%
Spanish 939 0.85% 1,458 1.29%
Other Indo-European* 2,113 1.91% 1,861 1.64%
Asian Language** 189 0.17% 293 0.26%
Other 161 0.15% 150 0.13%
Total Population Age 5+ 110,511 100.00% 113,461 100.00%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 2000
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 416 28.53%
Other Indo-European* 541 29.07%
Asian Language** 155 52.90%
Other Language 76 50.67%
Total 1,188 1.05%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 1990
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 280 29.82%
Other Indo-European* 634 30.00%
Asian Language** 58 30.69%
Other Language 0 -
Total 972 0.88%

* "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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