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Olmsted 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 91,659 94.33% 104,163 90.22%
Spanish 1,001 1.03% 2,623 2.27%
Other Indo-European* 2,148 2.21% 2,901 2.51%
Asian Language** 2,186 2.25% 3,797 3.29%
Other 177 0.18% 1,975 1.71%
Total Population Age 5+ 97,171 100.00% 115,459 100.00%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 2000
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 1,089 41.52%
Other Indo-European* 778 26.82%
Asian Language** 2,051 54.02%
Other Language 1,009 51.09%
Total 4,927 4.27%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 1990
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 352 35.16%
Other Indo-European* 561 26.12%
Asian Language** 1,435 65.65%
Other Language 41 23.16%
Total 2,389 2.46%

* "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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