Blue Earth 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 48,311 95.47% 50,039 94.77%
Spanish 554 1.09% 1,060 2.01%
Other Indo-European* 1,056 2.09% 915 1.73%
Asian Language** 480 0.95% 528 1.00%
Other 204 0.40% 256 0.48%
Total Population Age 5+ 50,605 100.00% 52,798 100.00%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 2000
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 326 30.75%
Other Indo-European* 180 19.67%
Asian Language** 295 55.87%
Other Language 136 53.13%
Total 937 1.77%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 1990
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 172 31.05%
Other Indo-European* 318 30.11%
Asian Language** 297 61.88%
Other Language 105 51.47%
Total 892 1.76%

* "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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