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Macon 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 106,286 97.23% 103,871 96.72%
Spanish 910 0.83% 1,741 1.62%
Other Indo-European* 1,626 1.49% 1,295 1.21%
Asian Language** 324 0.30% 400 0.37%
Other 172 0.16% 90 0.08%
Total Population Age 5+ 109,318 100.00% 107,397 100.00%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 2000
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 586 33.66%
Other Indo-European* 263 20.31%
Asian Language** 196 49.00%
Other Language 25 27.78%
Total 1,070 1.00%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 1990
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 221 24.29%
Other Indo-European* 447 27.49%
Asian Language** 186 57.41%
Other Language 59 34.30%
Total 913 0.84%

* "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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