Noble 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 9,955 96.88% 10,382 96.91%
Spanish 118 1.15% 179 1.67%
Other Indo-European* 79 0.77% 53 0.49%
Asian Language** 52 0.51% 59 0.55%
Other 72 0.70% 40 0.37%
Total Population Age 5+ 10,276 100.00% 10,713 100.00%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 2000
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 43 24.02%
Other Indo-European* 9 16.98%
Asian Language** 44 74.58%
Other Language 2 5.00%
Total 98 0.91%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 1990
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 35 29.66%
Other Indo-European* 36 45.57%
Asian Language** 24 46.15%
Other Language 40 55.56%
Total 135 1.31%

* "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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