Hawaii

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 771,485 75.18% 832,226 73.37%
Spanish 13,729 1.34% 18,820 1.66%
Other Indo-European* 14,002 1.36% 14,242 1.26%
Asian Language** 226,002 22.02% 267,157 23.55%
Other 991 0.10% 1,906 0.17%
Total Population Age 5+ 1,026,209 100.00% 1,134,351 100.00%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 2000
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 4,960 26.35%
Other Indo-European* 3,165 22.22%
Asian Language** 134,782 50.45%
Other Language 598 31.37%
Total 143,505 12.65%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 1990
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 3,402 24.78%
Other Indo-European* 2,933 20.95%
Asian Language** 117,863 52.15%
Other Language 220 22.20%
Total 124,418 12.12%

* "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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