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Poweshiek 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 17,365 97.20% 17,028 95.91%
Spanish 178 1.00% 251 1.41%
Other Indo-European* 208 1.16% 350 1.97%
Asian Language** 103 0.58% 81 0.46%
Other 12 0.07% 44 0.25%
Total Population Age 5+ 17,866 100.00% 17,754 100.00%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 2000
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 60 23.90%
Other Indo-European* 93 26.57%
Asian Language** 51 62.96%
Other Language 0 0.00%
Total 204 1.15%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 1990
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 51 28.65%
Other Indo-European* 26 12.50%
Asian Language** 52 50.49%
Other Language 0 -
Total 129 0.72%

* "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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