Hardin 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 37,204 96.96% 43,244 96.57%
Spanish 528 1.38% 808 1.80%
Other Indo-European* 546 1.42% 572 1.28%
Asian Language** 56 0.15% 121 0.27%
Other 38 0.10% 33 0.07%
Total Population Age 5+ 38,372 100.00% 44,778 100.00%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 2000
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 205 25.37%
Other Indo-European* 101 17.66%
Asian Language** 55 45.45%
Other Language 0 0.00%
Total 361 0.81%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 1990
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 184 34.85%
Other Indo-European* 157 28.75%
Asian Language** 4 7.14%
Other Language 0 -
Total 345 0.90%

* "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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