Johnson 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 79,413 96.99% 102,881 96.49%
Spanish 982 1.20% 1,828 1.71%
Other Indo-European* 988 1.21% 1,299 1.22%
Asian Language** 451 0.55% 522 0.49%
Other 45 0.05% 95 0.09%
Total Population Age 5+ 81,879 100.00% 106,625 100.00%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 2000
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 555 30.36%
Other Indo-European* 282 21.71%
Asian Language** 222 42.53%
Other Language 26 27.37%
Total 1,085 1.02%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 1990
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 344 35.03%
Other Indo-European* 233 23.58%
Asian Language** 305 67.63%
Other Language 21 46.67%
Total 903 1.10%

* "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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