Jefferson Davis Parish

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 21,472 76.04% 23,805 81.99%
Spanish 66 0.23% 254 0.87%
Other Indo-European* 6,666 23.61% 4,846 16.69%
Asian Language** 20 0.07% 82 0.28%
Other 14 0.05% 47 0.16%
Total Population Age 5+ 28,238 100.00% 29,034 100.00%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 2000
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 156 61.42%
Other Indo-European* 975 20.12%
Asian Language** 57 69.51%
Other Language 10 21.28%
Total 1,198 4.13%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 1990
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 8 12.12%
Other Indo-European* 1,955 29.33%
Asian Language** 20 100.00%
Other Language 11 78.57%
Total 1,994 7.06%

* "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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