Brookings 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 22,594 95.35% 25,210 94.77%
Spanish 142 0.60% 418 1.57%
Other Indo-European* 653 2.76% 686 2.58%
Asian Language** 213 0.90% 191 0.72%
Other 95 0.40% 96 0.36%
Total Population Age 5+ 23,697 100.00% 26,601 100.00%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 2000
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 110 26.32%
Other Indo-European* 314 45.77%
Asian Language** 96 50.26%
Other Language 9 9.38%
Total 529 1.99%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 1990
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 19 13.38%
Other Indo-European* 188 28.79%
Asian Language** 183 85.92%
Other Language 41 43.16%
Total 431 1.82%

* "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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