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Dubuque, IA

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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 77,814 96.81% 79,868 96.01%
Spanish 854 1.06% 1,652 1.99%
Other Indo-European* 1,339 1.67% 1,289 1.55%
Asian Language** 306 0.38% 285 0.34%
Other 68 0.08% 90 0.11%
Total Population Age 5+ 80,381 100.00% 83,184 100.00%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 2000
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 648 39.23%
Other Indo-European* 454 35.22%
Asian Language** 170 59.65%
Other Language 29 32.22%
Total 1,301 1.56%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 1990
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 378 44.26%
Other Indo-European* 332 24.79%
Asian Language** 174 56.86%
Other Language 14 20.59%
Total 898 1.12%

* "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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