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Merrimack 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 103,572 93.27% 119,976 93.56%
Spanish 699 0.63% 1,443 1.13%
Other Indo-European* 6,385 5.75% 5,770 4.50%
Asian Language** 237 0.21% 744 0.58%
Other 155 0.14% 302 0.24%
Total Population Age 5+ 111,048 100.00% 128,235 100.00%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 2000
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 455 31.53%
Other Indo-European* 1,516 26.27%
Asian Language** 346 46.51%
Other Language 72 23.84%
Total 2,389 1.86%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 1990
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 275 39.34%
Other Indo-European* 1,657 25.95%
Asian Language** 102 43.04%
Other Language 36 23.23%
Total 2,070 1.86%

* "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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