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Polk 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 31,430 97.51% 37,688 96.96%
Spanish 134 0.42% 460 1.18%
Other Indo-European* 566 1.76% 625 1.61%
Asian Language** 21 0.07% 27 0.07%
Other 80 0.25% 68 0.17%
Total Population Age 5+ 32,231 100.00% 38,868 100.00%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 2000
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 148 32.17%
Other Indo-European* 138 22.08%
Asian Language** 10 37.04%
Other Language 21 30.88%
Total 317 0.82%

Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 1990
Language Spoken at Home: Number Percent
Spanish 41 30.60%
Other Indo-European* 111 19.61%
Asian Language** 9 42.86%
Other Language 16 20.00%
Total 177 0.55%

* "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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