Elbert 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 8,244 92.23% 17,714 95.21%
Spanish 433 4.84% 605 3.25%
Other Indo-European* 242 2.71% 270 1.45%
Asian Language** 6 0.07% 13 0.07%
Other 14 0.16% 4 0.02%
Total Population Age 5+ 8,939 100.00% 18,606 100.00%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 2000
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 168 27.77%
Other Indo-European* 48 17.78%
Asian Language** 0 0.00%
Other Language 0 0.00%
Total 216 1.16%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 1990
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 145 33.49%
Other Indo-European* 30 12.40%
Asian Language** 0 -
Other Language 0 -
Total 175 1.96%

* "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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