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McLean County

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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 115,997 96.14% 132,245 93.96%
Spanish 1,371 1.14% 3,542 2.52%
Other Indo-European* 1,996 1.65% 2,575 1.83%
Asian Language** 1,072 0.89% 2,035 1.45%
Other 212 0.18% 348 0.25%
Total Population Age 5+ 120,648 100.00% 140,745 100.00%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 2000
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 1,370 38.68%
Other Indo-European* 550 21.36%
Asian Language** 917 45.06%
Other Language 75 21.55%
Total 2,912 2.07%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 1990
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 413 30.12%
Other Indo-European* 517 25.90%
Asian Language** 683 63.71%
Other Language 83 39.15%
Total 1,696 1.41%

* "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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