Columbiana 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 97,949 97.25% 101,711 96.46%
Spanish 928 0.92% 1,964 1.86%
Other Indo-European* 1,541 1.53% 1,300 1.23%
Asian Language** 230 0.23% 312 0.30%
Other 67 0.07% 152 0.14%
Total Population Age 5+ 100,715 100.00% 105,439 100.00%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 2000
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 887 45.16%
Other Indo-European* 278 21.38%
Asian Language** 111 35.58%
Other Language 42 27.63%
Total 1,318 1.25%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 1990
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 294 31.68%
Other Indo-European* 429 27.84%
Asian Language** 126 54.78%
Other Language 10 14.93%
Total 859 0.85%

* "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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