Linn 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 150,683 96.10% 169,838 95.17%
Spanish 1,389 0.89% 3,437 1.93%
Other Indo-European* 3,298 2.10% 3,077 1.72%
Asian Language** 828 0.53% 1,447 0.81%
Other 598 0.38% 665 0.37%
Total Population Age 5+ 156,796 100.00% 178,464 100.00%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 2000
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 1,187 34.54%
Other Indo-European* 740 24.05%
Asian Language** 585 40.43%
Other Language 318 47.82%
Total 2,830 1.59%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 1990
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 446 32.11%
Other Indo-European* 893 27.08%
Asian Language** 460 55.56%
Other Language 201 33.61%
Total 2,000 1.28%

* "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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