Mother tongue Chinese have highest proportion of speaking neither English nor French
CIV, StatCan – In Vancouver CMA, just over four out of 10 residents (41%) are allophones, compared with 38% in 2001. Of these allophones, 332,000, or 38%, have a Chinese language as their mother tongue.
People with Chinese as their mother tongues have the highest percentage of them speaking neither English nor French, among people with all other mother tongues, Census 2006 finds.
| CENSUS 2006 – KNOWLEDGE OF OFFICIAL LANGUAGES, MOTHER TONGUE CHINESE | |||||||||
| Total – knowledge of off. lang. | English only | French only | English and French | Neither English nor French | % Neither Eng nor French | % Eng only | % Eng and French | ||
| CANADA | |||||||||
| Chinese languages | 1,012,065 | 771,785 | 8,590 | 49,285 | 182,405 | 18.02 | 76.3 | 4.87 | |
| Cantonese | 361,450 | 274,340 | 950 | 14,735 | 71,430 | 19.76 | 75.9 | 4.08 | |
| Mandarin | 170,950 | 136,695 | 985 | 7,070 | 26,205 | 15.33 | 80 | 4.14 | |
| Taiwanese | 9,620 | 7,530 | - | 560 | 1,520 | 15.8 | 78.3 | 5.82 | |
| Chinese, other dialects | 470,040 | 353,220 | 6,655 | 26,925 | 83,255 | 17.71 | 75.2 | 5.73 | |
| BC | |||||||||
| Chinese languages | 342,920 | 267,475 | 90 | 8,015 | 67,340 | 19.64 | 78 | 2.34 | |
| Cantonese | 131,245 | 100,840 | 15 | 3,220 | 27,170 | 20.7 | 76.8 | 2.45 | |
| Mandarin | 72,155 | 58,230 | 50 | 1,860 | 12,015 | 16.65 | 80.7 | 2.58 | |
| Taiwanese | 5,750 | 4,620 | - | 145 | 990 | 17.22 | 80.4 | 2.52 | |
| Chinese, other dialects | 133,760 | 103,785 | 30 | 2,775 | 27,165 | 20.31 | 77.6 | 2.07 | |
| VANCOUVER | |||||||||
| Chinese languages | 324,840 | 252,100 | 80 | 7,615 | 65,045 | 20.02 | 77.6 | 2.34 | |
| Cantonese | 125,940 | 96,385 | 15 | 3,110 | 26,430 | 20.99 | 76.5 | 2.47 | |
| Mandarin | 69,265 | 55,650 | 40 | 1,755 | 11,820 | 17.06 | 80.3 | 2.53 | |
| Taiwanese | 5,345 | 4,260 | - | 130 | 950 | 17.77 | 79.7 | 2.43 | |
| Chinese, other dialects | 124,290 | 95,800 | 25 | 2,615 | 25,845 | 20.79 | 77.1 | 2.1 | |
| SOURCE: STATCAN, CENSUS 2006 | |||||||||
However, if age is taken into account, the proportion of school-aged students not speaking either English or French drop significantly. This may indicate that younger immigrant students are in a better position of integrating into society.
KNOWLEDGE OF OFF. LANG., MOTHER TONGUE CHINESE AGE 10-14 |
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| CANADA | |||||||||
| Total – knowledge of off. lang. | English only | French only | English and French | Neither English nor French | % Neither Eng nor French | % Eng only | % Eng and French | ||
| Chinese languages | 50,885 | 41,090 | 1,325 | 7,340 | 1,125 | 2.2 | 80.8 | 14.4 | |
| Cantonese | 18,480 | 15,960 | 110 | 2,190 | 215 | 1.2 | 86.4 | 11.9 | |
| Mandarin | 9,800 | 7,955 | 150 | 1,390 | 305 | 3.1 | 81.2 | 14.2 | |
| Taiwanese | 140 | 105 | - | 35 | - | 0.0 | 75.0 | 25.0 | |
| Chinese, other dialects | 22,450 | 17,065 | 1,060 | 3,720 | 600 | 2.7 | 76.0 | 16.6 | |
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KNOWLEDGE OF OFF. LANG. OF MOTHER TONGUE CHINESE AGE 10-14
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| BC | |||||||||
| Total – knowledge of off. lang. | English only | French only | English and French | Neither English nor French | % Neither Eng nor French | % Eng only | % Eng and French | ||
| Chinese languages | 17,895 | 16,105 | - | 1,290 | 500 | 2.8 | 90.0 | 7.2 | |
| Cantonese | 6,950 | 6,400 | - | 460 | 90 | 1.3 | 92.1 | 6.6 | |
| Mandarin | 4,615 | 4,000 | - | 465 | 150 | 3.3 | 86.7 | 10.1 | |
| Taiwanese | 85 | 75 | - | - | - | 0.0 | 88.2 | 0.0 | |
| Chinese, other dialects | 6,245 | 5,635 | - | 360 | 255 | 4.1 | 90.2 | 5.8 | |
| SOURCE: STATCAN, CENSUS 2006 | |||||||||
On the other hand, the three other largest language groups in BC are also Asian: Punjabi, with 122,000 people; Tagalog, with 52,000; and Korean, with 42,000.
In the City of Burnaby, 55.5% of its residents are allophones, making it one of the three Canadian cities with a population of over 200,000 where allophones are in the majority. The other two cities are Markham and Vaughan, both located in Toronto CMA.
According to the 2006 Census, 98% of the Canadian population can speak one or both official languages. The proportion of Canadians reporting being able to conduct a conversation in English and French increased to 17.4% in 2006.
For Anglophones, almost seven in 10 (68.9%) living in Quebec are bilingual, while this is the case for 7.5% of those living outside Quebec.
For Francophones, the rate of bilingualism is 35.8% in Quebec and 83.6% for those living outside Quebec. With regards to allophones, 50.2% of those living in Quebec stated that they could carry on a conversation in both languages, while only 5.6% outside of Quebec reported knowing both official languages.
In British Columbia, 6.6% of Anglophones and 4.5% of allophones said they could carry on a conversation in both official languages in 2006, up from 6.0% and 4.4% respectively in 2001.
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