Marion 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 702,242 95.65% 738,672 92.70%
Spanish 11,708 1.59% 32,216 4.04%
Other Indo-European* 14,553 1.98% 15,355 1.93%
Asian Language** 4,276 0.58% 7,240 0.91%
Other 1,407 0.19% 3,375 0.42%
Total Population Age 5+ 734,186 100.00% 796,858 100.00%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 2000
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 17,057 52.95%
Other Indo-European* 4,944 32.20%
Asian Language** 3,713 51.28%
Other Language 1,023 30.31%
Total 26,737 3.36%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 1990
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 4,058 34.66%
Other Indo-European* 4,292 29.49%
Asian Language** 1,815 42.45%
Other Language 435 30.92%
Total 10,600 1.44%

* "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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