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Marion 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 26,911 95.96% 28,760 95.60%
Spanish 175 0.62% 566 1.88%
Other Indo-European* 751 2.68% 508 1.69%
Asian Language** 131 0.47% 237 0.79%
Other 76 0.27% 13 0.04%
Total Population Age 5+ 28,044 100.00% 30,084 100.00%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 2000
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 196 34.63%
Other Indo-European* 80 15.75%
Asian Language** 172 72.57%
Other Language 0 0.00%
Total 448 1.49%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 1990
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 31 17.71%
Other Indo-European* 231 30.76%
Asian Language** 94 71.76%
Other Language 17 22.37%
Total 373 1.33%

* "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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