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Matagorda County

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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 26,277 77.90% 25,909 73.42%
Spanish 6,337 18.79% 8,412 23.84%
Other Indo-European* 572 1.70% 246 0.70%
Asian Language** 547 1.62% 691 1.96%
Other 0 0.00% 31 0.09%
Total Population Age 5+ 33,733 100.00% 35,289 100.00%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 2000
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 3,538 42.06%
Other Indo-European* 41 16.67%
Asian Language** 322 46.60%
Other Language 5 16.13%
Total 3,906 11.07%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 1990
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 2,207 34.83%
Other Indo-European* 169 29.55%
Asian Language** 347 63.44%
Other Language 0 -
Total 2,723 8.07%

* "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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