Oxford 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 46,071 94.39% 49,529 95.45%
Spanish 224 0.46% 318 0.61%
Other Indo-European* 2,293 4.70% 1,758 3.39%
Asian Language** 41 0.08% 154 0.30%
Other 181 0.37% 129 0.25%
Total Population Age 5+ 48,810 100.00% 51,888 100.00%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 2000
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 83 26.10%
Other Indo-European* 391 22.24%
Asian Language** 41 26.62%
Other Language 36 27.91%
Total 551 1.06%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 1990
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 49 21.88%
Other Indo-European* 442 19.28%
Asian Language** 10 24.39%
Other Language 41 22.65%
Total 542 1.11%

* "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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