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Wasco 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 18,730 92.72% 19,928 89.52%
Spanish 1,019 5.04% 1,855 8.33%
Other Indo-European* 227 1.12% 239 1.07%
Asian Language** 88 0.44% 87 0.39%
Other 136 0.67% 151 0.68%
Total Population Age 5+ 20,200 100.00% 22,260 100.00%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 2000
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 1,008 54.34%
Other Indo-European* 41 17.15%
Asian Language** 69 79.31%
Other Language 29 19.21%
Total 1,147 5.15%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 1990
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 535 52.50%
Other Indo-European* 82 36.12%
Asian Language** 23 26.14%
Other Language 16 11.76%
Total 656 3.25%

* "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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