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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 | 1,914,869 | 74.28% | 1,992,143 | 63.81% |
| Spanish | 508,878 | 19.74% | 898,885 | 28.79% |
| Other Indo-European* | 66,181 | 2.57% | 87,470 | 2.80% |
| Asian Language** | 73,097 | 2.84% | 116,285 | 3.72% |
| Other | 14,861 | 0.58% | 27,216 | 0.87% |
| Total Population Age 5+ | 2,577,886 | 100.00% | 3,121,999 | 100.00% |
| Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 2000 | ||
| Language Spoken at Home: | Number | Percent |
| Spanish | 475,797 | 52.93% |
| Other Indo-European* | 24,665 | 28.20% |
| Asian Language** | 63,026 | 54.20% |
| Other Language | 6,311 | 23.19% |
| Total | 569,799 | 18.25% |
| Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 1990 | ||
| Language Spoken at Home: | Number | Percent |
| Spanish | 252,003 | 49.52% |
| Other Indo-European* | 17,066 | 25.79% |
| Asian Language** | 37,822 | 51.74% |
| Other Language | 3,485 | 23.45% |
| Total | 310,376 | 12.04% |
* "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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