Isabella 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 49,002 95.85% 57,098 95.17%
Spanish 598 1.17% 985 1.64%
Other Indo-European* 1,064 2.08% 851 1.42%
Asian Language** 263 0.51% 598 1.00%
Other 199 0.39% 466 0.78%
Total Population Age 5+ 51,126 100.00% 59,998 100.00%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 2000
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 302 30.66%
Other Indo-European* 150 17.63%
Asian Language** 317 53.01%
Other Language 54 11.59%
Total 823 1.37%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 1990
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 290 48.49%
Other Indo-European* 351 32.99%
Asian Language** 60 22.81%
Other Language 64 32.16%
Total 765 1.50%

* "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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