Madison 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 47,972 97.75% 66,047 95.92%
Spanish 435 0.89% 1,247 1.81%
Other Indo-European* 547 1.11% 921 1.34%
Asian Language** 124 0.25% 457 0.66%
Other 0 0.00% 187 0.27%
Total Population Age 5+ 49,078 100.00% 68,859 100.00%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 2000
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 495 39.70%
Other Indo-European* 175 19.00%
Asian Language** 194 42.45%
Other Language 11 5.88%
Total 875 1.27%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 1990
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 119 27.36%
Other Indo-European* 113 20.66%
Asian Language** 32 25.81%
Other Language 0 -
Total 264 0.54%

* "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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