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Rockbridge County

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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 16,854 97.82% 19,111 96.95%
Spanish 129 0.75% 227 1.15%
Other Indo-European* 195 1.13% 315 1.60%
Asian Language** 21 0.12% 38 0.19%
Other 31 0.18% 21 0.11%
Total Population Age 5+ 17,230 100.00% 19,712 100.00%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 2000
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 105 46.26%
Other Indo-European* 78 24.76%
Asian Language** 9 23.68%
Other Language 0 0.00%
Total 192 0.97%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 1990
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 50 38.76%
Other Indo-European* 56 28.72%
Asian Language** 21 100.00%
Other Language 18 58.06%
Total 145 0.84%

* "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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