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 | 926,112 | 86.49% | 1,040,888 | 78.14% |
| Spanish | 102,910 | 9.61% | 218,616 | 16.41% |
| Other Indo-European* | 17,552 | 1.64% | 26,817 | 2.01% |
| Asian Language** | 19,949 | 1.86% | 37,148 | 2.79% |
| Other | 4,301 | 0.40% | 8,586 | 0.64% |
| Total Population Age 5+ | 1,070,824 | 100.00% | 1,332,055 | 100.00% |
| Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 2000 | ||
| Language Spoken at Home: | Number | Percent |
| Spanish | 109,170 | 49.94% |
| Other Indo-European* | 8,010 | 29.87% |
| Asian Language** | 20,547 | 55.31% |
| Other Language | 2,597 | 30.25% |
| Total | 140,324 | 10.53% |
| Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 1990 | ||
| Language Spoken at Home: | Number | Percent |
| Spanish | 44,388 | 43.13% |
| Other Indo-European* | 4,147 | 23.63% |
| Asian Language** | 11,007 | 55.18% |
| Other Language | 1,457 | 33.88% |
| Total | 60,999 | 5.70% |
* "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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