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Parkersburg-Marietta, WV-OH |
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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 | 136,494 | 97.70% | 139,323 | 97.84% |
| Spanish | 1,143 | 0.82% | 1,345 | 0.94% |
| Other Indo-European* | 1,637 | 1.17% | 1,229 | 0.86% |
| Asian Language** | 364 | 0.26% | 392 | 0.28% |
| Other | 74 | 0.05% | 114 | 0.08% |
| Total Population Age 5+ | 139,712 | 100.00% | 142,403 | 100.00% |
| Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 2000 | ||
| Language Spoken at Home: | Number | Percent |
| Spanish | 451 | 33.53% |
| Other Indo-European* | 242 | 19.69% |
| Asian Language** | 112 | 28.57% |
| Other Language | 6 | 5.26% |
| Total | 811 | 0.57% |
| Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 1990 | ||
| Language Spoken at Home: | Number | Percent |
| Spanish | 381 | 33.33% |
| Other Indo-European* | 492 | 30.05% |
| Asian Language** | 114 | 31.32% |
| Other Language | 13 | 17.57% |
| Total | 1,000 | 0.72% |
* "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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