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The 1990 U.S. Census surveyed the languages most commonly spoken at home among residents age 5 and over and also determined how well they spoke English. Among the 230 million people who fell into this category, 196.4 million said they spoke only English at home, whereas 31.8 million spoke another language. Some 4.8 million of those speaking another language stated that they did not speak English well, and another 1.8 million said they didn't speak it ata ll.
Not surprisingly, after English, Spanish was the most widely spoken language (17.4 million, representing 54% of those speaking a language other then English at home). It was followed by French (1.7 million), German (1.5 million), Italian (1.3 million), and Chinese (1.2 million). Details of the 10 most widely spoken languages after English are shown in Exhibit 2. (Exhibit 2 omitted).
People in these language segments represent not only important market opportunities for many types of goods and services, but also a rich source of expertise for...