Coffee 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 36,654 97.53% 43,131 96.26%
Spanish 438 1.17% 1,071 2.39%
Other Indo-European* 405 1.08% 310 0.69%
Asian Language** 77 0.20% 268 0.60%
Other 10 0.03% 26 0.06%
Total Population Age 5+ 37,584 100.00% 44,806 100.00%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 2000
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 522 48.74%
Other Indo-European* 49 15.81%
Asian Language** 113 42.16%
Other Language 7 26.92%
Total 691 1.54%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 1990
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 106 24.20%
Other Indo-European* 139 34.32%
Asian Language** 40 51.95%
Other Language 10 100.00%
Total 295 0.78%

* "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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