Languages
| Languages of Toronto | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mother tongue (single and multiple responses) | ||||
| English | 57% | |||
| French | 1.5% | |||
| Indo-Iranian languages (Punjabi, Urdu, Persian, etc.) | 10% | |||
| Chinese Languages (Cantonese, Mandarin etc.) | 8% | |||
| Romance languages (Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, etc.) | 8% | |||
| Slavic languages (Russian, Polish, Ukrainian, etc.) | 5% | |||
| Malayo-Polynesian languages (Filipino etc.) | 3% | |||
| Dravidian languages (Tamil etc.) | 2.5% | |||
| Semitic languages (Arabic, Somali, Hebrew, etc.) | 2.5% | |||
| Germanic languages (German, Dutch etc.) | 1% | |||
| Korean | 1% | |||
| Austro-Asiatic languages (Vietnamese etc.) | 1% | |||
| Greek | 1% | |||
While English is the predominant language spoken by Torontonians, Statistics Canada reports that other language groups are significant, of which most prevalent are:
- The Indo-Iranian languages (554,855 native speakers, most of which having Panjabi (Punjabi), Urdu, or Persian as their mother tongue)
- The Romance languages (531,270 native speakers; most notably the Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese language, as well as French, Canada's other official language)
- The Chinese languages (455,200 native speakers; predominantly Cantonese and Mandarin)
- The Slavic languages (268,905 native speakers, of which those of Russian and Polish are leading the pack)
Read more about this topic: Demographics Of Toronto
Famous quotes containing the word languages:
“It is time for dead languages to be quiet.”
—Natalie Clifford Barney (1876–1972)
“The less sophisticated of my forbears avoided foreigners at all costs, for the very good reason that, in their circles, speaking in tongues was commonly a prelude to snake handling. The more tolerant among us regarded foreign languages as a kind of speech impediment that could be overcome by willpower.”
—Barbara Ehrenreich (b. 1941)
“I am always sorry when any language is lost, because languages are the pedigree of nations.”
—Samuel Johnson (1709–1784)