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Bedford 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 41,772 97.99% 55,313 97.24%
Spanish 368 0.86% 606 1.07%
Other Indo-European* 438 1.03% 620 1.09%
Asian Language** 32 0.08% 306 0.54%
Other 21 0.05% 36 0.06%
Total Population Age 5+ 42,631 100.00% 56,881 100.00%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 2000
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 253 41.75%
Other Indo-European* 98 15.81%
Asian Language** 149 48.69%
Other Language 0 0.00%
Total 500 0.88%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 1990
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 151 41.03%
Other Indo-European* 102 23.29%
Asian Language** 16 50.00%
Other Language 6 28.57%
Total 275 0.65%

* "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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