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 82,584 91.83% 93,749 89.49%
Spanish 1,303 1.45% 3,286 3.14%
Other Indo-European* 3,079 3.42% 3,725 3.56%
Asian Language** 2,525 2.81% 3,156 3.01%
Other 442 0.49% 845 0.81%
Total Population Age 5+ 89,933 100.00% 104,761 100.00%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 2000
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 1,097 33.38%
Other Indo-European* 958 25.72%
Asian Language** 1,461 46.29%
Other Language 287 33.96%
Total 3,803 3.63%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 1990
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 391 30.01%
Other Indo-European* 875 28.42%
Asian Language** 1,372 54.34%
Other Language 139 31.45%
Total 2,777 3.09%

* "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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