Graham 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 17,895 73.45% 23,589 76.32%
Spanish 4,323 17.74% 5,047 16.33%
Other Indo-European* 200 0.82% 234 0.76%
Asian Language** 71 0.29% 61 0.20%
Other 1,875 7.70% 1,978 6.40%
Total Population Age 5+ 24,364 100.00% 30,909 100.00%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 2000
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 1,133 22.45%
Other Indo-European* 65 27.78%
Asian Language** 13 21.31%
Other Language 808 40.85%
Total 2,019 6.53%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 1990
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 1,129 26.12%
Other Indo-European* 83 41.50%
Asian Language** 25 35.21%
Other Language 1,098 58.56%
Total 2,335 9.58%

* "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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