Table 2. Language Spoken at Home and Ability to Speak English Source: U.S. Bureau of the Census Internet Release date: February 18, 1998 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- | |Percent |Percent |Percent in | |speak a |do not |linguis- |Persons |language |speak |tically |5 years |other than |English |isolated Ancestry |and over |English |"very well"|households -------------------------------------------------------------------------- All persons 230,445,777 13.8 6.1 3.5 Albanian 35,525 50.9 20.5 9.8 American 11,904,791 3.0 0.9 0.4 Armenian 251,525 57.4 28.7 18.9 Assyrian 42,114 77.3 32.3 16.8 Australian 33,770 6.8 1.3 0.4 Austrian 528,046 10.9 2.3 1.2 Barbadian 31,994 5.9 1.4 0.4 Basque 35,390 26.6 7.9 3.4 Belgian 235,257 10.8 2.6 1.2 Belizean 19,760 26.0 7.1 4.1 Brazilian 52,292 81.0 43.2 28.5 British West Indian 34,264 12.5 4.4 2.4 Bulgarian 19,874 31.7 12.0 6.5 Cajun 549,588 22.7 6.3 3.3 Canadian 342,069 8.4 2.2 1.1 Cape Verdean 42,282 48.4 22.9 14.1 Croatian 387,704 13.4 4.7 2.0 Czech 726,576 9.5 2.7 1.5 Czechoslovakian 234,629 13.4 3.9 2.2 Danish 928,684 5.1 1.0 0.3 Dutch 3,274,078 4.6 1.0 0.4 Dutch West Indian 31,710 4.9 1.3 0.6 Egyptian 65,941 77.5 26.4 14.8 English 21,571,389 2.0 0.5 0.1 Estonian 20,091 45.0 15.2 10.2 Ethiopian 31,103 85.9 36.7 23.5 Finnish 437,200 12.4 3.0 1.4 French 5,816,778 7.2 1.9 0.7 French Canadian 1,600,283 14.5 3.7 1.7 German 42,334,294 4.0 1.0 0.4 Greek 859,323 41.7 13.3 5.4 Guyanese 71,802 4.8 1.2 0.5 Haitian 254,640 87.8 47.0 30.4 Hungarian 949,567 16.7 5.5 3.1 Icelander 25,238 17.0 4.0 1.8 Iranian 202,155 83.6 31.0 16.4 Iraqi 18,723 78.0 29.5 15.4 Irish 21,289,076 2.2 0.5 0.1 Israeli 62,269 65.9 18.7 10.0 Italian 10,532,011 12.5 4.2 1.7 Jamaican 386,376 7.4 1.9 0.6 Latvian 72,744 36.6 14.0 9.2 Lebanese 286,259 33.5 10.4 4.5 Lithuanian 505,230 12.7 3.7 2.2 Luxemburger 27,951 6.1 1.3 0.5 Maltese 27,978 27.7 8.6 3.7 Nigerian 75,457 53.1 9.5 4.7 Norwegian 2,370,427 4.3 0.9 0.3 Palestinian 39,875 80.6 24.8 11.1 Pennsylvania German 234,601 8.1 3.4 2.1 Polish 6,152,525 12.8 4.6 2.7 Portuguese 842,356 37.8 17.3 9.2 Romanian 225,229 32.5 15.2 9.6 Russian 2,018,675 11.6 4.7 3.2 Scotch-Irish 4,145,871 1.9 0.5 0.1 Scottish 3,155,578 2.4 0.5 0.1 Serbian 85,005 33.7 12.0 5.6 Slavic 40,600 11.4 3.2 1.5 Slovak 1,154,335 8.9 2.6 1.3 Slovene 84,208 15.0 4.7 2.3 Swedish 2,722,830 4.0 0.8 0.3 Swiss 575,016 10.5 3.1 1.6 Syrian 88,450 32.2 10.9 5.5 Trinidadian and Tobagonian 67,989 5.0 1.3 0.4 Turkish 62,012 59.6 23.3 11.2 Ukrainian 491,012 23.6 9.5 6.2 Welsh 990,105 2.4 0.5 0.1 Yugoslavian 174,424 33.9 13.2 7.1 --------------------------------------------------------------------------