Fulton 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 563,034 93.69% 658,421 86.73%
Spanish 16,652 2.77% 52,371 6.90%
Other Indo-European* 12,599 2.10% 27,244 3.59%
Asian Language** 5,935 0.99% 15,825 2.08%
Other 2,712 0.45% 5,318 0.70%
Total Population Age 5+ 600,932 100.00% 759,179 100.00%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 2000
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 30,828 58.86%
Other Indo-European* 8,145 29.90%
Asian Language** 7,554 47.73%
Other Language 1,362 25.61%
Total 47,889 6.31%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 1990
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 7,439 44.67%
Other Indo-European* 3,399 26.98%
Asian Language** 3,789 63.84%
Other Language 603 22.23%
Total 15,230 2.53%

* "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).

Home | About | Help | Contact | Use Policy