Clay 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 11,921 96.52% 12,154 94.91%
Spanish 106 0.86% 163 1.27%
Other Indo-European* 197 1.60% 239 1.87%
Asian Language** 106 0.86% 166 1.30%
Other 21 0.17% 84 0.66%
Total Population Age 5+ 12,351 100.00% 12,806 100.00%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 2000
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 49 30.06%
Other Indo-European* 59 24.69%
Asian Language** 103 62.05%
Other Language 31 36.90%
Total 242 1.89%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 1990
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 28 26.42%
Other Indo-European* 60 30.46%
Asian Language** 41 38.68%
Other Language 0 -
Total 129 1.04%

* "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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