Belknap 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 42,605 93.13% 50,244 94.22%
Spanish 372 0.81% 636 1.19%
Other Indo-European* 2,573 5.62% 2,176 4.08%
Asian Language** 167 0.37% 215 0.40%
Other 31 0.07% 57 0.11%
Total Population Age 5+ 45,748 100.00% 53,328 100.00%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 2000
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 244 38.36%
Other Indo-European* 544 25.00%
Asian Language** 115 53.49%
Other Language 32 56.14%
Total 935 1.75%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 1990
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 78 20.97%
Other Indo-European* 619 24.06%
Asian Language** 87 52.10%
Other Language 12 38.71%
Total 796 1.74%

* "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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