Scott 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 50,168 95.76% 75,736 93.14%
Spanish 376 0.72% 2,435 2.99%
Other Indo-European* 1,553 2.96% 1,609 1.98%
Asian Language** 241 0.46% 1,357 1.67%
Other 54 0.10% 177 0.22%
Total Population Age 5+ 52,392 100.00% 81,314 100.00%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 2000
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 1,234 50.68%
Other Indo-European* 464 28.84%
Asian Language** 610 44.95%
Other Language 57 32.20%
Total 2,365 2.91%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 1990
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 106 28.19%
Other Indo-European* 309 19.90%
Asian Language** 140 58.09%
Other Language 8 14.81%
Total 563 1.07%

* "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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