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Madison County

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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 210,479 94.95% 243,863 94.52%
Spanish 3,032 1.37% 5,277 2.05%
Other Indo-European* 5,175 2.33% 4,868 1.89%
Asian Language** 2,296 1.04% 3,045 1.18%
Other 694 0.31% 939 0.36%
Total Population Age 5+ 221,676 100.00% 257,992 100.00%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 2000
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 2,114 40.06%
Other Indo-European* 1,141 23.44%
Asian Language** 1,530 50.25%
Other Language 252 26.84%
Total 5,037 1.95%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 1990
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 952 31.40%
Other Indo-European* 1,329 25.68%
Asian Language** 1,225 53.35%
Other Language 81 11.67%
Total 3,587 1.62%

* "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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