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 | 360,362 | 83.12% | 377,881 | 73.04% |
| Spanish | 51,641 | 11.91% | 108,889 | 21.05% |
| Other Indo-European* | 12,313 | 2.84% | 15,090 | 2.92% |
| Asian Language** | 6,859 | 1.58% | 10,762 | 2.08% |
| Other | 2,390 | 0.55% | 4,727 | 0.91% |
| Total Population Age 5+ | 433,565 | 100.00% | 517,349 | 100.00% |
| Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 2000 | ||
| Language Spoken at Home: | Number | Percent |
| Spanish | 62,690 | 57.57% |
| Other Indo-European* | 5,002 | 33.15% |
| Asian Language** | 6,174 | 57.37% |
| Other Language | 1,632 | 34.53% |
| Total | 75,498 | 14.59% |
| Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 1990 | ||
| Language Spoken at Home: | Number | Percent |
| Spanish | 20,085 | 38.89% |
| Other Indo-European* | 3,834 | 31.14% |
| Asian Language** | 4,022 | 58.64% |
| Other Language | 806 | 33.72% |
| Total | 28,747 | 6.63% |
* "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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