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Houghton County

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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 29,809 89.45% 31,565 92.68%
Spanish 120 0.36% 314 0.92%
Other Indo-European* 809 2.43% 663 1.95%
Asian Language** 369 1.11% 334 0.98%
Other 2,217 6.65% 1,182 3.47%
Total Population Age 5+ 33,324 100.00% 34,058 100.00%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 2000
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 67 21.34%
Other Indo-European* 125 18.85%
Asian Language** 222 66.47%
Other Language 293 24.79%
Total 707 2.08%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 1990
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 13 10.83%
Other Indo-European* 136 16.81%
Asian Language** 241 65.31%
Other Language 368 16.60%
Total 758 2.27%

* "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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