CIC not proposing new language requirements for citizenship, Kenney insists
After a dropping a big bomb yesterday linking language skills and eligibility for citizenship, CIC minister Jason Kenney released a statement today to “clarify”. The media are once again blamed for having “mischaracterised” his remarks. Since most of the media relied on the CP reporting on this topic, I guess he’s blaming the CP. However, Kenney talked to OMNI news last night and I watched the entire interview. Since... [Read More...]
French or English should be must for immigrants who want citizenship: Kenney
I think this is right. I’m a little surprised that they didn’t do it earlier. The question is, how do they define “competent” English. (Note on Mar 21, 2009: Kenney released a statement to clarify his position on language and citizenship.) THE CANADIAN PRESS – Immigrants who can’t speak English or French well enough should be denied citizenship, says a federal politician. Canada needs to improve its efforts to integrate... [Read More...]
BC has highest use of non-official languages at work
StatCan release – In 2006, employment rates for both immigrants and Canadian born increased from those of 2001. The census also shows that BC remains to be the province with highest use of languages other than English or French at work. Employment rates for immigrants and Canadian born increased between 2001 and 2006, particularly in the core working-age group, those aged 25 to 54. The employment rate for core working-age immigrants increased... [Read More...]
1 in 13 says using more than one language at work in BC
StatCan release – New data from the 2006 Census reveal that British Columbia and Alberta led the way in employment growth between 2001 and 2006. Over the five-year period, the 1.7% annual average national employment growth rate was surpassed only in Alberta (2.9%), BC (2.1%) and the three territories. BC added 208,800 workers between 2001 and 2006, while Alberta added 251,100. Together they accounted for a third of Canada’s employment growth over... [Read More...]
Pinyin celebrates 50th birthday, 1 billion learning it
People’s Daily – Hanyu Pinyin, or the Chinese phonetic system, will celebrate its 50th anniversary on Monday (Feb. 11). One billion Chinese have used it to learn mandarin since the first edition of pinyin was issued in 1958. “Pinyin is useful. It helps us to learn Chinese characters. Thanks to pinyin, we learnt how to read,” 92-year-old Chen Douxiang from Wanrong County, northern Shanxi Province, still remembered the pinyin... [Read More...]
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... [Read More...]
Chinese is 3rd most spoken language in Canada: Census 2006
StatCan release – Canadians reported more than 200 languages in response to the census question on mother tongue. TOP LANGUAGES CENSUS 2006 1 English 18,232,200 2 French 6,970,405 3 Italian 476,905 4 Chinese – all other dialects 467,235 5 German 466,655 6 Panjabi (Punjabi) 382,585 7 Chinese – Cantonese 369,645 8 Spanish 362,120 9 Arabic ... [Read More...]
Mandarin learning a world hip
USA Today reports that Chinese language learning is booming in the States: Nationwide, there are Chinese programs in more than 550 elementary, junior high and senior high schools, a 100% increase in two years, according to The Asia Society, an educational group. In May, when the College Board offered Mandarin Advanced Placement exams for the first time, 3,261 high school students took the test. At the college level, enrollment in Chinese-language... [Read More...]
TMSL – Teaching Mandarin as a Second Language
WSJ has a story about how MSL – Mandarin as a Second Language – is becoming popular overseas. Though not surprised, I’ve never thought of the term “MSL” being emerging in the world’s language learning stage. The world is really changing fast. I’m certain that traditional Chinese characters (or “complex characters”) will soon become extinct among the dominant wave of simplified Chinese characters... [Read More...]
Japanese universities flock to set up Confucius Institute
But here in Canada we consider the Confucius Institute as another spy operation or a sneaky way by China to spread its culture. —————————Asahi.com – Be it Belgrade, Tel Aviv or Auckland, New Zealand, millions of people around the world have taken up learning Chinese, and the Beijing-backed Confucius Institute is there to help them.The project, launched in 2004, is modeled on similar cultural... [Read More...]
