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Worcester County

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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 572,580 87.19% 595,964 85.00%
Spanish 26,346 4.01% 42,732 6.09%
Other Indo-European* 46,811 7.13% 42,780 6.10%
Asian Language** 7,039 1.07% 13,472 1.92%
Other 3,920 0.60% 6,209 0.89%
Total Population Age 5+ 656,696 100.00% 701,157 100.00%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 2000
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 19,013 44.49%
Other Indo-European* 13,925 32.55%
Asian Language** 7,345 54.52%
Other Language 1,593 25.66%
Total 41,876 5.97%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 1990
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 12,503 47.46%
Other Indo-European* 13,814 29.51%
Asian Language** 3,669 52.12%
Other Language 1,264 32.24%
Total 31,250 4.76%

* "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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