As you may have guessed, English is the most commonly spoken language at home in our country. In fact, a whopping 98 per cent of Canadians say they have the ability to conduct a conversation in English, French or both. Our other official language, French, is the second-most commonly spoken language in Canada.
While a fifth of us speak a mother tongue other than English or French, only 6. Mandarin is most commonly spoken in the major metropolitan areas. Roughly 9 in 10 Canadians who reported speaking an immigrant language most often at home reside in a census metropolitan area CMA.
The census counted roughly 1. In fact, this population is two and a half times larger than the corresponding population in Vancouver, the second-ranking CMA in this regard. Among those speaking an immigrant language at home in Toronto, about one-third spoke one of five languages: Cantonese 8. Footnote 5 7. Other immigrant languages spoken most often at home include Italian 51, , Chinese n. In Vancouver, , people reported speaking an immigrant language most often at home.
Thus, Vancouver stands out from the other major CMAs in that the four leading immigrant home languages accounted for more than half In the Calgary CMA , , people reported speaking an immigrant language most often at home. Of these, Punjabi 27, persons and Tagalog nearly 24, were the languages most often reported, followed by Chinese n. Although it had a smaller population speaking an immigrant language most often at home , , Edmonton was fairly similar to Calgary in regards to the main immigrant languages that were spoken there.
While the order of the languages differed, the five leading immigrant home languages were the same in the two CMAs. Punjabi, Tagalog, Chinese n. In the Ottawa - Gatineau CMA , almost , persons reported speaking an immigrant language most often at home. On the Ontario side, Arabic, Chinese n. For more information on this subject, readers may consult the document entitled Immigrant languages in Canada , Catalogue no. Footnote 6 In , just under 4. Generally, the use of two languages at home is more widespread in provinces where a higher proportion of immigrants live or where there are areas of contact between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal groups or between Anglophones and Francophones.
In , among people who reported speaking a language other than English or French at home, That language was also spoken most often at home in combination with the use of English on a regular basis by more than 1.
Conversely, English was reported as the language spoken most often at home by more than 2. As for the use of French in combination with a language other than English, , persons 4.
While Canada is increasingly diversified linguistically, its two official languages—French and, to a greater extent, English—exert a strong pull as languages of convergence and integration into Canadian society, especially as languages of work, education and the provision of government services to the public.
The same situation was observed in the Census of Population. In , French was the first official language spoken Footnote 7 of 7. The rest of the population 1. Footnote 8. The two official languages exert an influence on the language s spoken at home.
In , while In fact, only 6. Given that the language spoken most often at home is most likely to be passed on to children, the widespread use of English or French at home by parents influences the first language a child will learn at home. Footnote The change between and in the numbers and proportions of the English, French and 'other' mother tongue groups is affected by changes in the reporting patterns to the mother tongue question in the Census. See the box entitled Comparability of language data between censuses of population in the Highlights section.
The population reporting English as a mother tongue remained unchanged at The share of the population reporting a mother tongue other than English or French increased from The proportion of the population reporting French as a mother tongue in Canada declined between and from However, this decrease is smaller than what would have been expected given the volume and composition of international immigration during the period to , in particular immigrants with a mother tongue other than English or French.
In Quebec, This decrease was smaller than what would have been expected, for the reasons already cited. Footnote 12 However, the population reporting English as a mother tongue grew by more than 40,, going from 8. This, in turn, represents one of the central dilemmas of Canadian multiculturalism : is it reasonable for places like banks, hospitals, and restaurants to accommodate immigrants by offering services in their native languages?
The question is a controversial one, and in most Canadian cities both approaches are pursued to varying degrees. A government website may feature a button for a Punjabi translation and a shop in Chinatown may have Chinese-speaking cashiers, but it may be very hard to find truly critical information, such as tax forms or legal filings, written in anything other than English or French.
Canada's aboriginal languages were traditionally oral, and only relatively recently have many of them been put into written form. Some Indigenous languages use the English alphabet, some use a unique alphabet, some use a unique mixture of both. Seen above, the Inuktitut alphabet, which was developed by the British missionary James Evans The aboriginal languages of Canada — much like the aboriginal people themselves — were almost entirely wiped out by European settlers.
The Indian residential schools program in particular, which ran Native education in parts of rural Canada until the s, had an explicit, and largely successful goal of trying to get several generations of Indigenous peoples to stop speaking their native languages as part of a larger assimilation agenda. In recent decades, attitudes have changed dramatically, however, and the government of Canada now actively tries to promote the growth and survival of aboriginal languages that sit on the brink of death.
Just over , Canadians — or about 0. The northern territory of Nunavut recognizes Inuktitut as an official language alongside French and English, and the Northwest Territories gives 11 aboriginal languages official status. Members of the Canadian Parliament are now free to speak French or English during debates, and members can listen to instant translation through earphones, as seen here.
It's not uncommon for someone to ask a question in one language and get a response in another. Next Chapter.
Bennett Louis St. However, English throughout Canada has uniform phonology and little diversity dialect compared to the US English. English has official status in Canada provided for in the Official Language Act of English is used as the official language in all government services including court proceedings and enactment of federal legislations.
In the province of Quebec where French is the official language, the constitution requires that legislations in both French and English while court proceedings may also be conducted in either of the two official languages.
A street sign in Canada in both English and French. John Misachi April 25 in Society.
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