Census- how well should a one-year old speak English anyway?

[silverten]

I was wondering what the right answer to the question about how well my daughter speaks English might be.

I mean, she's 15 months old, and says about a dozen 'words'. I think that's probably pretty good for a tiny child, but given that the only people who can understand when she's saying somthing (as opposed to just shrieking) are me and DH, maybe I should answer 'Poor'?

Should I be worried about the Thought Police?

N/A

There isn't a N/A!

If you put your main language as English it tells you to you miss out that question!

But you only have to answer the how well you speak English question if completing for a person who does not have English as their first language.
That said, I did wonder when completing on behalf of my 8 month old whether he might not choose English as his first language. He may well decide to speak Mandarin Chinese after all.

If you read the form correctly, you will see that the question immediately preceeding it says "what language do you speak?" If you tick the 'English' box, it says "now go to question x", which means you SKIP the one about how well you speak English.

wonders whether there should be an IQ test given out in the month prior to a census

I know, DD is 6 months old...she's very communicative but I'm not sure you'd call it language!

Yes Filthy, but technically DD doesn't speak any language.

If you follow the instructions, you don't need to answer that question: if you have ticked English as their main language, you skip the one about how well the person speaks it, and go straight to q20.

There was a thread about this yesterday too - I'm starting to feel sorry for all the people who have to go through and check the census forms...