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Joplin, MO

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LANGUAGE

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 122,156 97.32% 139,272 95.32%
Spanish 1,281 1.02% 4,559 3.12%
Other Indo-European* 1,455 1.16% 1,419 0.97%
Asian Language** 496 0.40% 675 0.46%
Other 137 0.11% 188 0.13%
Total Population Age 5+ 125,525 100.00% 146,113 100.00%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 2000
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 2,316 50.80%
Other Indo-European* 292 20.58%
Asian Language** 352 52.15%
Other Language 22 11.70%
Total 2,982 2.04%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 1990
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 372 29.04%
Other Indo-European* 569 39.11%
Asian Language** 220 44.35%
Other Language 37 27.01%
Total 1,198 0.95%

* "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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