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Hattiesburg, MS

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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 88,699 97.06% 100,091 96.20%
Spanish 1,236 1.35% 1,980 1.90%
Other Indo-European* 1,025 1.12% 966 0.93%
Asian Language** 336 0.37% 827 0.79%
Other 88 0.10% 177 0.17%
Total Population Age 5+ 91,384 100.00% 104,041 100.00%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 2000
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 664 33.54%
Other Indo-European* 261 27.02%
Asian Language** 468 56.59%
Other Language 50 28.25%
Total 1,443 1.39%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 1990
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 327 26.46%
Other Indo-European* 210 20.49%
Asian Language** 196 58.33%
Other Language 33 37.50%
Total 766 0.84%

* "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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