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Hillsdale 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 38,804 96.78% 41,969 96.47%
Spanish 342 0.85% 526 1.21%
Other Indo-European* 760 1.90% 817 1.88%
Asian Language** 143 0.36% 80 0.18%
Other 48 0.12% 113 0.26%
Total Population Age 5+ 40,097 100.00% 43,505 100.00%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 2000
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 170 32.32%
Other Indo-European* 219 26.81%
Asian Language** 33 41.25%
Other Language 36 31.86%
Total 458 1.05%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 1990
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 121 35.38%
Other Indo-European* 193 25.39%
Asian Language** 46 32.17%
Other Language 5 10.42%
Total 365 0.91%

* "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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