Scotts Bluff 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 29,354 87.72% 29,767 86.30%
Spanish 3,102 9.27% 3,929 11.39%
Other Indo-European* 802 2.40% 626 1.81%
Asian Language** 60 0.18% 103 0.30%
Other 146 0.44% 68 0.20%
Total Population Age 5+ 33,464 100.00% 34,493 100.00%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 2000
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 1,608 40.93%
Other Indo-European* 102 16.29%
Asian Language** 51 49.51%
Other Language 18 26.47%
Total 1,779 5.16%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 1990
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 878 28.30%
Other Indo-European* 169 21.07%
Asian Language** 24 40.00%
Other Language 8 5.48%
Total 1,079 3.22%

* "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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