Cass 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 13,811 97.49% 13,519 97.29%
Spanish 134 0.95% 237 1.71%
Other Indo-European* 221 1.56% 110 0.79%
Asian Language** 0 0.00% 29 0.21%
Other 0 0.00% 0 0.00%
Total Population Age 5+ 14,166 100.00% 13,895 100.00%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 2000
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 82 34.60%
Other Indo-European* 12 10.91%
Asian Language** 3 10.34%
Other Language 0 -
Total 97 0.70%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 1990
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 17 12.69%
Other Indo-European* 49 22.17%
Asian Language** 0 -
Other Language 0 -
Total 66 0.47%

* "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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