Beckham 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 16,705 95.24% 17,319 93.44%
Spanish 635 3.62% 917 4.95%
Other Indo-European* 181 1.03% 209 1.13%
Asian Language** 13 0.07% 19 0.10%
Other 6 0.03% 70 0.38%
Total Population Age 5+ 17,540 100.00% 18,534 100.00%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 2000
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 191 20.83%
Other Indo-European* 19 9.09%
Asian Language** 15 78.95%
Other Language 0 0.00%
Total 225 1.21%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 1990
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 218 34.33%
Other Indo-European* 50 27.62%
Asian Language** 13 100.00%
Other Language 6 100.00%
Total 287 1.64%

* "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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