Ford 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 21,309 85.26% 19,099 64.87%
Spanish 2,890 11.56% 9,417 31.99%
Other Indo-European* 273 1.09% 186 0.63%
Asian Language** 518 2.07% 723 2.46%
Other 3 0.01% 16 0.05%
Total Population Age 5+ 24,993 100.00% 29,441 100.00%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 2000
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 5,486 58.26%
Other Indo-European* 99 53.23%
Asian Language** 449 62.10%
Other Language 7 43.75%
Total 6,041 20.52%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 1990
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 1,672 57.85%
Other Indo-European* 37 13.55%
Asian Language** 293 56.56%
Other Language 3 100.00%
Total 2,005 8.02%

* "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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