Hancock 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 42,090 96.22% 47,524 96.42%
Spanish 331 0.76% 470 0.95%
Other Indo-European* 1,146 2.62% 1,112 2.26%
Asian Language** 142 0.32% 102 0.21%
Other 34 0.08% 83 0.17%
Total Population Age 5+ 43,743 100.00% 49,291 100.00%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 2000
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 133 28.30%
Other Indo-European* 216 19.42%
Asian Language** 64 62.75%
Other Language 7 8.43%
Total 420 0.85%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 1990
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 86 25.98%
Other Indo-European* 333 29.06%
Asian Language** 86 60.56%
Other Language 2 5.88%
Total 507 1.16%

* "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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