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Jefferson 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 18,383 96.72% 23,911 96.02%
Spanish 215 1.13% 253 1.02%
Other Indo-European* 272 1.43% 481 1.93%
Asian Language** 112 0.59% 195 0.78%
Other 25 0.13% 62 0.25%
Total Population Age 5+ 19,007 100.00% 24,902 100.00%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 2000
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 108 42.69%
Other Indo-European* 133 27.65%
Asian Language** 103 52.82%
Other Language 21 33.87%
Total 365 1.47%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 1990
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 72 33.49%
Other Indo-European* 33 12.13%
Asian Language** 58 51.79%
Other Language 3 12.00%
Total 166 0.87%

* "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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