Hamilton 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 14,570 97.08% 14,697 95.56%
Spanish 212 1.41% 286 1.86%
Other Indo-European* 179 1.19% 178 1.16%
Asian Language** 48 0.32% 217 1.41%
Other 0 0.00% 2 0.01%
Total Population Age 5+ 15,009 100.00% 15,380 100.00%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 2000
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 104 36.36%
Other Indo-European* 91 51.12%
Asian Language** 110 50.69%
Other Language 0 0.00%
Total 305 1.98%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 1990
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 64 30.19%
Other Indo-European* 29 16.20%
Asian Language** 32 66.67%
Other Language 0 -
Total 125 0.83%

* "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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