Barry 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 25,209 97.83% 29,846 94.04%
Spanish 222 0.86% 1,499 4.72%
Other Indo-European* 233 0.90% 277 0.87%
Asian Language** 65 0.25% 64 0.20%
Other 39 0.15% 50 0.16%
Total Population Age 5+ 25,768 100.00% 31,736 100.00%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 2000
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 829 55.30%
Other Indo-European* 84 30.32%
Asian Language** 13 20.31%
Other Language 36 72.00%
Total 962 3.03%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 1990
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 35 15.77%
Other Indo-European* 100 42.92%
Asian Language** 52 80.00%
Other Language 10 25.64%
Total 197 0.76%

* "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).

Home | About | Help | Contact | Use Policy