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Buchanan 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 18,197 94.64% 18,461 93.95%
Spanish 161 0.84% 281 1.43%
Other Indo-European* 853 4.44% 866 4.41%
Asian Language** 4 0.02% 41 0.21%
Other 13 0.07% 0 0.00%
Total Population Age 5+ 19,228 100.00% 19,649 100.00%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 2000
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 119 42.35%
Other Indo-European* 482 55.66%
Asian Language** 15 36.59%
Other Language 0 -
Total 616 3.14%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 1990
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 83 51.55%
Other Indo-European* 442 51.82%
Asian Language** 0 -
Other Language 0 -
Total 525 2.73%

* "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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