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Putnam 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 46,670 96.59% 55,460 94.74%
Spanish 602 1.25% 1,989 3.40%
Other Indo-European* 541 1.12% 503 0.86%
Asian Language** 422 0.87% 500 0.85%
Other 85 0.18% 89 0.15%
Total Population Age 5+ 48,320 100.00% 58,541 100.00%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 2000
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 1,280 64.35%
Other Indo-European* 181 35.98%
Asian Language** 224 44.80%
Other Language 52 58.43%
Total 1,737 2.97%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 1990
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 204 33.89%
Other Indo-European* 104 19.22%
Asian Language** 157 37.20%
Other Language 16 18.82%
Total 481 1.00%

* "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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