News and Document archive source
copyrighted material disclaimer at bottom of page

NewsMinenature-healthsociety — Viewing Item


Nearly 1 in 5 americans foreign language home

Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
   http://releases.usnewswire.com/GetRelease.asp?id=111-10082003

http://releases.usnewswire.com/GetRelease.asp?id=111-10082003

Nearly 1-in-5 Speak a Foreign Language at Home; Most Also Speak English 'Very Well,' Census Bureau Reports

10/8/03 10:17:00 AM

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

To: National Desk

Contact: Mike Bergman of the U.S. Census Bureau, 301-763-3030 or 301-457-1037 (TDD), pio@census.gov

WASHINGTON, Oct. 8 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Nearly 1-in-5 people, or 47 million U.S. residents age 5 and older, spoke a language other than English at home in 2000, the U.S. Census Bureau said today. That was an increase of 15 million people since 1990.

The report, Language Use and English-Speaking Ability: 2000, said 55 percent of the people who spoke a language other than English at home also reported they spoke English "very well." Combined with those who spoke only English at home, 92 percent of the population age 5 and over had no difficulty speaking English.

Among those who spoke a language other than English at home were almost 11 million additional Spanish speakers. According to the report, Spanish speakers increased from 17.3 million in 1990 to 28.1 million in 2000, a 62 percent rise. Just over half the Spanish speakers reported speaking English "very well."

The report found that more than 9-in-10 people age 5 and older spoke a language other than English at home in Hialeah, Fla., and Laredo, Texas, the highest such proportion among U.S. places of 100,000 population or more. The 10 places with the highest proportions included four in Texas and three in California. (See Table 1.)

The West was home to more than one-third (37 percent) of all those who spoke a language other than English at home, the highest proportion of any region. California led the states (39 percent), followed by New Mexico (37 percent) and Texas (31 percent). (See Table 2.)

The number of people who spoke a non-English language at home at least doubled in six states between 1990 and 2000, with the largest percentage increase in Nevada (193 percent). Georgia's residents who spoke a non-English language at home increased by 164 percent, followed by North Carolina (151 percent).

After English (215.4 million) and Spanish (28.1 million), Chinese (2 million) was the language most commonly spoken at home, eclipsing French, German and Italian over the decade of the 90s. (See Table 3.)

Other highlights:

Of the 20 non-English languages spoken most widely at home, the largest proportional increase in the 1990s was Russian. Speakers of this language nearly tripled, from 242,000 to 706,000. The second largest increase was among French Creole speakers (including Haitian Creoles), whose numbers more than doubled, from 188,000 to 453,000.

The West and South combined had about three times the number of Spanish speakers (21 million) as the Northeast and Midwest combined (7 million).

More than 80 percent of the population spoke a non-English language in seven Texas counties Maverick, Webb, Starr, Kenedy, Zavala, Presidio and Hidalgo.

The data are based on the responses from a sample of households who received the census long form. Nationally, about 1-in-6 households were included in the sample. Estimates in the report are subject to sampling and nonsampling error.

------

EDITOR'S NOTE: The information, including detailed tables, can be accessed at http://www.census.gov/prod/2003pubs/c2kbr-29.pdf.


http://www.usnewswire.com/

-0-

/© 2003 U.S. Newswire 202-347-2770/




amygdala
brain
nih-sex-study
12 yr old kills 9 yr old sister for hamburger { February 15 2005 }
American alcohol abuse on the rise
American fast past society taking toll on civility
Americanized hispanic teens have more sex { March 8 2005 }
Americans 16 percent tattooed
Americans lonelier than ever
Americans relying more on prescription drugs { December 3 2004 }
Americans youth are more narcissists than ever
Army recruits conditioned for violence by society { December 27 2004 }
Boys failing at schools
British encourage underage oral { February 21 2003 }
Community college before university deemed better
Farmers live longer { November 19 2007 }
Girls confuse arrogant men with confidence
Girls quicker than boys at timed tasks { April 25 2006 }
Having older brother may cause homosexuality { June 27 2006 }
Lack of social connections leading to mental problems { June 23 2006 }
Men more likely militaristic than women
Men stressed and confused by women in bed
Most american women living without husband { January 16 2007 }
Nearly 1 in 5 americans foreign language home
Not pornography
Nude not lewd
Over crowded roads hurting life quality { January 17 2006 }
Parents only important factor in education { October 10 2007 }
Rich people are the most miserable says study
Sarcasm seen as evolutionary social skill { June 20 2008 }
Science for brainy people not normal people { January 20 2006 }
Self monitor
Technology gadgets keeping people addicted { February 19 2008 }
Those with money value free time most { May 2 2008 }
Traffic jam epidemic getting worse
Traffic sprawl qualitylife
Unmarried women give record births { October 28 2005 }
War over fetal rights
Wil smith says hitler thought he was doing good
Woman nurses puppies
Women dominate men at home { July 11 2007 }
Women talk more and like to hear themselves talk
Zoning out while reading common problem { July 3 2006 }

Files Listed: 40



Correction/submissions

CIA FOIA Archive

National Security
Archives
Support one-state solution for Israel and Palestine Tea Party bumper stickers JFK for Dummies, The Assassination made simple