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DeKalb 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 67,788 92.81% 75,010 89.97%
Spanish 1,631 2.23% 4,669 5.60%
Other Indo-European* 2,344 3.21% 2,284 2.74%
Asian Language** 912 1.25% 1,028 1.23%
Other 362 0.50% 379 0.45%
Total Population Age 5+ 73,037 100.00% 83,370 100.00%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 2000
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 2,103 45.04%
Other Indo-European* 515 22.55%
Asian Language** 413 40.18%
Other Language 80 21.11%
Total 3,111 3.73%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 1990
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 683 41.88%
Other Indo-European* 418 17.83%
Asian Language** 446 48.90%
Other Language 31 8.56%
Total 1,578 2.16%

* "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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