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Nobles 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 17,549 93.64% 16,428 84.64%
Spanish 335 1.79% 1,954 10.07%
Other Indo-European* 673 3.59% 290 1.49%
Asian Language** 180 0.96% 612 3.15%
Other 4 0.02% 126 0.65%
Total Population Age 5+ 18,741 100.00% 19,410 100.00%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 2000
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 1,231 63.00%
Other Indo-European* 57 19.66%
Asian Language** 368 60.13%
Other Language 91 72.22%
Total 1,747 9.00%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 1990
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 177 52.84%
Other Indo-European* 175 26.00%
Asian Language** 132 73.33%
Other Language 2 50.00%
Total 486 2.59%

* "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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