Stanly 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 46,987 97.76% 51,941 95.32%
Spanish 322 0.67% 1,475 2.71%
Other Indo-European* 496 1.03% 330 0.61%
Asian Language** 229 0.48% 701 1.29%
Other 31 0.06% 44 0.08%
Total Population Age 5+ 48,065 100.00% 54,491 100.00%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 2000
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 899 60.95%
Other Indo-European* 55 16.67%
Asian Language** 373 53.21%
Other Language 8 18.18%
Total 1,335 2.45%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 1990
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 196 60.87%
Other Indo-European* 170 34.27%
Asian Language** 106 46.29%
Other Language 26 83.87%
Total 498 1.04%

* "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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