Roosevelt 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 12,053 78.04% 12,256 73.57%
Spanish 3,209 20.78% 4,255 25.54%
Other Indo-European* 103 0.67% 101 0.61%
Asian Language** 29 0.19% 46 0.28%
Other 50 0.32% 2 0.01%
Total Population Age 5+ 15,444 100.00% 16,660 100.00%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 2000
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 1,452 34.12%
Other Indo-European* 26 25.74%
Asian Language** 12 26.09%
Other Language 0 0.00%
Total 1,490 8.94%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 1990
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 1,134 35.34%
Other Indo-European* 26 25.24%
Asian Language** 0 -
Other Language 20 40.00%
Total 1,180 7.64%

* "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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