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Dawson County

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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 17,839 96.14% 17,209 77.10%
Spanish 480 2.59% 4,854 21.75%
Other Indo-European* 216 1.16% 129 0.58%
Asian Language** 11 0.06% 96 0.43%
Other 9 0.05% 32 0.14%
Total Population Age 5+ 18,555 100.00% 22,320 100.00%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 2000
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 3,230 66.54%
Other Indo-European* 13 10.08%
Asian Language** 86 89.58%
Other Language 9 28.13%
Total 3,338 14.96%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 1990
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 212 44.17%
Other Indo-European* 61 28.24%
Asian Language** 4 36.36%
Other Language 0 -
Total 277 1.49%

* "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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