Colbert County

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 47,533 98.37% 50,428 97.66%
Spanish 486 1.01% 800 1.55%
Other Indo-European* 278 0.58% 249 0.48%
Asian Language** 26 0.05% 134 0.26%
Other 0 0.00% 26 0.05%
Total Population Age 5+ 48,323 100.00% 51,637 100.00%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 2000
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 329 41.13%
Other Indo-European* 33 13.25%
Asian Language** 76 56.72%
Other Language 11 42.31%
Total 449 0.87%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 1990
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 192 39.51%
Other Indo-European* 73 26.26%
Asian Language** 0 -
Other Language 0 -
Total 265 0.55%

* "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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