Harrison 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 143,364 94.26% 164,142 93.33%
Spanish 2,225 1.46% 4,521 2.57%
Other Indo-European* 2,930 1.93% 2,679 1.52%
Asian Language** 3,461 2.28% 4,271 2.43%
Other 109 0.07% 255 0.14%
Total Population Age 5+ 152,089 100.00% 175,868 100.00%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 2000
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 1,451 32.09%
Other Indo-European* 587 21.91%
Asian Language** 2,094 49.03%
Other Language 96 37.65%
Total 4,228 2.40%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 1990
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 777 34.92%
Other Indo-European* 891 30.41%
Asian Language** 1,718 49.64%
Other Language 15 13.76%
Total 3,401 2.24%

* "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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