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 | 443,027 | 95.23% | 478,283 | 91.60% |
| Spanish | 9,509 | 2.04% | 27,989 | 5.36% |
| Other Indo-European* | 6,782 | 1.46% | 7,426 | 1.42% |
| Asian Language** | 3,733 | 0.80% | 5,493 | 1.05% |
| Other | 2,159 | 0.46% | 2,961 | 0.57% |
| Total Population Age 5+ | 465,210 | 100.00% | 522,152 | 100.00% |
| Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 2000 | ||
| Language Spoken at Home: | Number | Percent |
| Spanish | 14,622 | 52.24% |
| Other Indo-European* | 1,920 | 25.86% |
| Asian Language** | 2,954 | 53.78% |
| Other Language | 764 | 25.80% |
| Total | 20,260 | 3.88% |
| Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 1990 | ||
| Language Spoken at Home: | Number | Percent |
| Spanish | 3,797 | 39.93% |
| Other Indo-European* | 1,636 | 24.12% |
| Asian Language** | 1,814 | 48.59% |
| Other Language | 464 | 21.49% |
| Total | 7,711 | 1.66% |
* "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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