Benson County

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 5,597 86.21% 5,813 91.80%
Spanish 15 0.23% 17 0.27%
Other Indo-European* 358 5.51% 145 2.29%
Asian Language** 0 0.00% 0 0.00%
Other 522 8.04% 357 5.64%
Total Population Age 5+ 6,492 100.00% 6,332 100.00%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 2000
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 8 47.06%
Other Indo-European* 28 19.31%
Asian Language** 0 -
Other Language 51 14.29%
Total 87 1.37%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 1990
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 3 20.00%
Other Indo-European* 86 24.02%
Asian Language** 0 -
Other Language 154 29.50%
Total 243 3.74%

* "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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