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Shelby 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 12,008 97.30% 12,027 96.95%
Spanish 70 0.57% 186 1.50%
Other Indo-European* 256 2.07% 170 1.37%
Asian Language** 4 0.03% 20 0.16%
Other 3 0.02% 2 0.02%
Total Population Age 5+ 12,341 100.00% 12,405 100.00%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 2000
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 58 31.18%
Other Indo-European* 62 36.47%
Asian Language** 13 65.00%
Other Language 0 0.00%
Total 133 1.07%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 1990
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 16 22.86%
Other Indo-European* 107 41.80%
Asian Language** 2 50.00%
Other Language 0 -
Total 125 1.01%

* "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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