Cherokee 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 12,881 97.82% 11,963 96.96%
Spanish 109 0.83% 210 1.70%
Other Indo-European* 148 1.12% 114 0.92%
Asian Language** 21 0.16% 41 0.33%
Other 9 0.07% 10 0.08%
Total Population Age 5+ 13,168 100.00% 12,338 100.00%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 2000
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 52 24.76%
Other Indo-European* 26 22.81%
Asian Language** 12 29.27%
Other Language 7 70.00%
Total 97 0.79%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 1990
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 24 22.02%
Other Indo-European* 32 21.62%
Asian Language** 18 85.71%
Other Language 9 100.00%
Total 83 0.63%

* "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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