Marshall 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 11,751 97.21% 12,174 97.69%
Spanish 117 0.97% 137 1.10%
Other Indo-European* 210 1.74% 113 0.91%
Asian Language** 8 0.07% 38 0.30%
Other 2 0.02% 0 0.00%
Total Population Age 5+ 12,088 100.00% 12,462 100.00%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 2000
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 25 18.25%
Other Indo-European* 45 39.82%
Asian Language** 21 55.26%
Other Language 0 -
Total 91 0.73%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 1990
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 67 57.26%
Other Indo-European* 74 35.24%
Asian Language** 4 50.00%
Other Language 2 100.00%
Total 147 1.22%

* "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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