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 | 311,628 | 95.28% | 383,228 | 91.80% |
| Spanish | 5,002 | 1.53% | 14,678 | 3.52% |
| Other Indo-European* | 6,817 | 2.08% | 10,253 | 2.46% |
| Asian Language** | 3,095 | 0.95% | 7,878 | 1.89% |
| Other | 522 | 0.16% | 1,412 | 0.34% |
| Total Population Age 5+ | 327,064 | 100.00% | 417,449 | 100.00% |
| Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 2000 | ||
| Language Spoken at Home: | Number | Percent |
| Spanish | 6,864 | 46.76% |
| Other Indo-European* | 2,684 | 26.18% |
| Asian Language** | 3,406 | 43.23% |
| Other Language | 274 | 19.41% |
| Total | 13,228 | 3.17% |
| Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 1990 | ||
| Language Spoken at Home: | Number | Percent |
| Spanish | 1,369 | 27.37% |
| Other Indo-European* | 1,708 | 25.06% |
| Asian Language** | 1,458 | 47.11% |
| Other Language | 124 | 23.75% |
| Total | 4,659 | 1.42% |
* "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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