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 | 686,458 | 84.70% | 837,066 | 78.28% |
| Spanish | 58,588 | 7.23% | 127,084 | 11.89% |
| Other Indo-European* | 53,954 | 6.66% | 85,054 | 7.95% |
| Asian Language** | 4,870 | 0.60% | 9,962 | 0.93% |
| Other | 6,603 | 0.81% | 10,091 | 0.94% |
| Total Population Age 5+ | 810,473 | 100.00% | 1,069,257 | 100.00% |
| Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 2000 | ||
| Language Spoken at Home: | Number | Percent |
| Spanish | 62,359 | 49.07% |
| Other Indo-European* | 33,266 | 39.11% |
| Asian Language** | 4,735 | 47.53% |
| Other Language | 3,464 | 34.33% |
| Total | 103,824 | 9.71% |
| Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 1990 | ||
| Language Spoken at Home: | Number | Percent |
| Spanish | 26,643 | 45.48% |
| Other Indo-European* | 19,534 | 36.20% |
| Asian Language** | 2,402 | 49.32% |
| Other Language | 2,575 | 39.00% |
| Total | 51,154 | 6.31% |
* "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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