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Dutchess 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 215,726 89.71% 231,678 88.08%
Spanish 7,251 3.02% 12,656 4.81%
Other Indo-European* 13,492 5.61% 13,206 5.02%
Asian Language** 2,913 1.21% 3,627 1.38%
Other 1,090 0.45% 1,870 0.71%
Total Population Age 5+ 240,472 100.00% 263,037 100.00%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 2000
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 4,831 38.17%
Other Indo-European* 3,386 25.64%
Asian Language** 1,288 35.51%
Other Language 516 27.59%
Total 10,021 3.81%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 1990
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 2,359 32.53%
Other Indo-European* 4,014 29.75%
Asian Language** 1,113 38.21%
Other Language 338 31.01%
Total 7,824 3.25%

* "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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