Fayette 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 200,138 95.23% 224,074 91.66%
Spanish 3,299 1.57% 9,778 4.00%
Other Indo-European* 3,573 1.70% 5,313 2.17%
Asian Language** 2,395 1.14% 4,179 1.71%
Other 758 0.36% 1,111 0.45%
Total Population Age 5+ 210,163 100.00% 244,455 100.00%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 2000
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 5,319 54.40%
Other Indo-European* 1,446 27.22%
Asian Language** 2,336 55.90%
Other Language 258 23.22%
Total 9,359 3.83%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 1990
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 1,352 40.98%
Other Indo-European* 868 24.29%
Asian Language** 1,401 58.50%
Other Language 359 47.36%
Total 3,980 1.89%

* "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).

Home | About | Help | Contact | Use Policy