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Berkeley 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 52,974 96.53% 68,453 96.43%
Spanish 849 1.55% 1,291 1.82%
Other Indo-European* 861 1.57% 846 1.19%
Asian Language** 122 0.22% 292 0.41%
Other 75 0.14% 108 0.15%
Total Population Age 5+ 54,881 100.00% 70,990 100.00%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 2000
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 507 39.27%
Other Indo-European* 179 21.16%
Asian Language** 87 29.79%
Other Language 51 47.22%
Total 824 1.16%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 1990
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 293 34.51%
Other Indo-European* 260 30.20%
Asian Language** 48 39.34%
Other Language 7 9.33%
Total 608 1.11%

* "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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