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 | 409,024 | 88.30% | 400,711 | 84.42% |
| Spanish | 28,029 | 6.05% | 40,475 | 8.53% |
| Other Indo-European* | 17,858 | 3.86% | 18,920 | 3.99% |
| Asian Language** | 6,716 | 1.45% | 12,189 | 2.57% |
| Other | 1,589 | 0.34% | 2,366 | 0.50% |
| Total Population Age 5+ | 463,216 | 100.00% | 474,661 | 100.00% |
| Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 2000 | ||
| Language Spoken at Home: | Number | Percent |
| Spanish | 17,199 | 42.49% |
| Other Indo-European* | 5,910 | 31.24% |
| Asian Language** | 6,350 | 52.10% |
| Other Language | 637 | 26.92% |
| Total | 30,096 | 6.34% |
| Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 1990 | ||
| Language Spoken at Home: | Number | Percent |
| Spanish | 12,482 | 44.53% |
| Other Indo-European* | 5,129 | 28.72% |
| Asian Language** | 3,455 | 51.44% |
| Other Language | 558 | 35.12% |
| Total | 21,624 | 4.67% |
* "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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