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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 | 890,898 | 93.22% | 909,793 | 87.16% |
| Spanish | 11,267 | 1.18% | 42,540 | 4.08% |
| Other Indo-European* | 27,870 | 2.92% | 32,974 | 3.16% |
| Asian Language** | 19,324 | 2.02% | 38,401 | 3.68% |
| Other | 6,372 | 0.67% | 20,101 | 1.93% |
| Total Population Age 5+ | 955,731 | 100.00% | 1,043,809 | 100.00% |
| Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 2000 | ||
| Language Spoken at Home: | Number | Percent |
| Spanish | 22,866 | 53.75% |
| Other Indo-European* | 10,259 | 31.11% |
| Asian Language** | 21,753 | 56.65% |
| Other Language | 9,278 | 46.16% |
| Total | 64,156 | 6.15% |
| Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 1990 | ||
| Language Spoken at Home: | Number | Percent |
| Spanish | 3,649 | 32.39% |
| Other Indo-European* | 7,255 | 26.03% |
| Asian Language** | 11,936 | 61.77% |
| Other Language | 1,524 | 23.92% |
| Total | 24,364 | 2.55% |
* "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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