Dunn 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 32,159 95.83% 35,792 95.29%
Spanish 416 1.24% 591 1.57%
Other Indo-European* 541 1.61% 524 1.39%
Asian Language** 382 1.14% 623 1.66%
Other 59 0.18% 33 0.09%
Total Population Age 5+ 33,557 100.00% 37,563 100.00%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 2000
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 163 27.58%
Other Indo-European* 78 14.89%
Asian Language** 282 45.26%
Other Language 0 0.00%
Total 523 1.39%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 1990
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 96 23.08%
Other Indo-European* 166 30.68%
Asian Language** 227 59.42%
Other Language 7 11.86%
Total 496 1.48%

* "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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