Demographics of Toronto - Languages

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:

    “The trouble with foreign languages is, you have to think before your speak.”
    —Swedish proverb, trans. by Verne Moberg.