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Ottawa 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 27,961 97.57% 29,628 95.68%
Spanish 328 1.14% 1,007 3.25%
Other Indo-European* 165 0.58% 109 0.35%
Asian Language** 69 0.24% 70 0.23%
Other 135 0.47% 151 0.49%
Total Population Age 5+ 28,658 100.00% 30,965 100.00%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 2000
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 484 48.06%
Other Indo-European* 8 7.34%
Asian Language** 57 81.43%
Other Language 6 3.97%
Total 555 1.79%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 1990
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 108 32.93%
Other Indo-European* 71 43.03%
Asian Language** 2 2.90%
Other Language 30 22.22%
Total 211 0.74%

* "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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