Franklin 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 61,483 94.57% 63,647 93.77%
Spanish 727 1.12% 1,245 1.83%
Other Indo-European* 2,479 3.81% 2,372 3.49%
Asian Language** 221 0.34% 492 0.72%
Other 101 0.16% 122 0.18%
Total Population Age 5+ 65,011 100.00% 67,878 100.00%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 2000
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 385 30.92%
Other Indo-European* 753 31.75%
Asian Language** 226 45.93%
Other Language 29 23.77%
Total 1,393 2.05%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 1990
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 199 27.37%
Other Indo-European* 431 17.39%
Asian Language** 123 55.66%
Other Language 11 10.89%
Total 764 1.18%

* "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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