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Kennebec County

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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 97,223 89.95% 102,051 92.18%
Spanish 382 0.35% 736 0.66%
Other Indo-European* 9,862 9.12% 7,337 6.63%
Asian Language** 406 0.38% 512 0.46%
Other 215 0.20% 70 0.06%
Total Population Age 5+ 108,088 100.00% 110,706 100.00%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 2000
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 218 29.62%
Other Indo-European* 1,816 24.75%
Asian Language** 252 49.22%
Other Language 4 5.71%
Total 2,290 2.07%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 1990
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 131 34.29%
Other Indo-European* 3,001 30.43%
Asian Language** 248 61.08%
Other Language 75 34.88%
Total 3,455 3.20%

* "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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