Mifflin 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 39,863 92.82% 40,430 92.75%
Spanish 184 0.43% 343 0.79%
Other Indo-European* 2,886 6.72% 2,763 6.34%
Asian Language** 13 0.03% 55 0.13%
Other 0 0.00% 0 0.00%
Total Population Age 5+ 42,946 100.00% 43,591 100.00%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 2000
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 76 22.16%
Other Indo-European* 1,424 51.54%
Asian Language** 28 50.91%
Other Language 0 -
Total 1,528 3.51%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 1990
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 75 40.76%
Other Indo-European* 1,354 46.92%
Asian Language** 0 -
Other Language 0 -
Total 1,429 3.33%

* "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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