Madison 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 224,115 96.88% 234,608 96.70%
Spanish 2,024 0.87% 3,676 1.52%
Other Indo-European* 4,253 1.84% 3,434 1.42%
Asian Language** 681 0.29% 701 0.29%
Other 262 0.11% 192 0.08%
Total Population Age 5+ 231,335 100.00% 242,611 100.00%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 2000
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 1,252 34.06%
Other Indo-European* 933 27.17%
Asian Language** 273 38.94%
Other Language 24 12.50%
Total 2,482 1.02%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 1990
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 554 27.37%
Other Indo-European* 1,056 24.83%
Asian Language** 273 40.09%
Other Language 107 40.84%
Total 1,990 0.86%

* "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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