Rusk 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 13,292 94.92% 13,906 95.86%
Spanish 93 0.66% 183 1.26%
Other Indo-European* 533 3.81% 339 2.34%
Asian Language** 68 0.49% 31 0.21%
Other 17 0.12% 47 0.32%
Total Population Age 5+ 14,003 100.00% 14,506 100.00%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 2000
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 38 20.77%
Other Indo-European* 105 30.97%
Asian Language** 16 51.61%
Other Language 22 46.81%
Total 181 1.25%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 1990
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 21 22.58%
Other Indo-European* 127 23.83%
Asian Language** 28 41.18%
Other Language 2 11.76%
Total 178 1.27%

* "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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