Plumas 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 17,453 94.40% 18,762 94.50%
Spanish 529 2.86% 705 3.55%
Other Indo-European* 416 2.25% 293 1.48%
Asian Language** 70 0.38% 71 0.36%
Other 21 0.11% 22 0.11%
Total Population Age 5+ 18,489 100.00% 19,853 100.00%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 2000
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 253 35.89%
Other Indo-European* 23 7.85%
Asian Language** 35 49.30%
Other Language 0 0.00%
Total 311 1.57%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 1990
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 167 31.57%
Other Indo-European* 91 21.88%
Asian Language** 24 34.29%
Other Language 13 61.90%
Total 295 1.60%

* "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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