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Allegany 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 45,184 96.11% 45,212 95.93%
Spanish 614 1.31% 612 1.30%
Other Indo-European* 1,033 2.20% 962 2.04%
Asian Language** 139 0.30% 296 0.63%
Other 44 0.09% 48 0.10%
Total Population Age 5+ 47,014 100.00% 47,130 100.00%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 2000
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 177 28.92%
Other Indo-European* 267 27.75%
Asian Language** 126 42.57%
Other Language 12 25.00%
Total 582 1.23%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 1990
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 156 25.41%
Other Indo-European* 387 37.46%
Asian Language** 36 25.90%
Other Language 4 9.09%
Total 583 1.24%

* "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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