Sevier 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 12,100 94.52% 11,928 82.24%
Spanish 571 4.46% 2,504 17.26%
Other Indo-European* 72 0.56% 46 0.32%
Asian Language** 18 0.14% 14 0.10%
Other 40 0.31% 12 0.08%
Total Population Age 5+ 12,801 100.00% 14,504 100.00%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 2000
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 1,732 69.17%
Other Indo-European* 13 28.26%
Asian Language** 8 57.14%
Other Language 7 58.33%
Total 1,760 12.13%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 1990
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 445 77.93%
Other Indo-European* 25 34.72%
Asian Language** 9 50.00%
Other Language 12 30.00%
Total 491 3.84%

* "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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