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Webster 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 36,097 96.65% 35,975 95.51%
Spanish 297 0.80% 813 2.16%
Other Indo-European* 792 2.12% 492 1.31%
Asian Language** 131 0.35% 332 0.88%
Other 32 0.09% 53 0.14%
Total Population Age 5+ 37,349 100.00% 37,665 100.00%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 2000
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 359 44.16%
Other Indo-European* 161 32.72%
Asian Language** 209 62.95%
Other Language 19 35.85%
Total 748 1.99%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 1990
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 72 24.24%
Other Indo-European* 206 26.01%
Asian Language** 48 36.64%
Other Language 19 59.38%
Total 345 0.92%

* "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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