Pottawatomie 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 53,134 96.87% 58,517 95.93%
Spanish 565 1.03% 997 1.63%
Other Indo-European* 257 0.47% 442 0.72%
Asian Language** 183 0.33% 273 0.45%
Other 711 1.30% 772 1.27%
Total Population Age 5+ 54,850 100.00% 61,001 100.00%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 2000
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 327 32.80%
Other Indo-European* 74 16.74%
Asian Language** 120 43.96%
Other Language 223 28.89%
Total 744 1.22%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 1990
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 108 19.12%
Other Indo-European* 34 13.23%
Asian Language** 87 47.54%
Other Language 209 29.40%
Total 438 0.80%

* "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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