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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 36,648 95.69% 40,146 93.53%
Spanish 374 0.98% 1,199 2.79%
Other Indo-European* 1,089 2.84% 1,085 2.53%
Asian Language** 93 0.24% 169 0.39%
Other 94 0.25% 322 0.75%
Total Population Age 5+ 38,298 100.00% 42,921 100.00%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 2000
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 534 44.54%
Other Indo-European* 282 25.99%
Asian Language** 124 73.37%
Other Language 178 55.28%
Total 1,118 2.60%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 1990
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 169 45.19%
Other Indo-European* 319 29.29%
Asian Language** 68 73.12%
Other Language 19 20.21%
Total 575 1.50%

* "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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