Duplin 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 35,510 95.31% 38,700 84.73%
Spanish 1,486 3.99% 6,599 14.45%
Other Indo-European* 175 0.47% 131 0.29%
Asian Language** 41 0.11% 198 0.43%
Other 46 0.12% 46 0.10%
Total Population Age 5+ 37,258 100.00% 45,674 100.00%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 2000
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 4,616 69.95%
Other Indo-European* 40 30.53%
Asian Language** 101 51.01%
Other Language 19 41.30%
Total 4,776 10.46%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 1990
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 870 58.55%
Other Indo-European* 65 37.14%
Asian Language** 6 14.63%
Other Language 9 19.57%
Total 950 2.55%

* "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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