Diversity in languages spoken in homes

Report shows city’s diversity is growing, attributed to immigrant population

The languages spoken in Saskatoon homes are more diverse according to the city’s recently released Vital Signs report.

Using 2011 Statistics Canada data — the most reliable and recent data available — the Saskatoon Community Foundation (SCF) found speaking languages other than English at home is on the rise in the city, a trend SCF manager of grants and communications Don Ewles attributes to Saskatoon’s growing immigrant community.

Ewles notes the number of languages other than English spoken at home is likely higher now than it was in 2011 as the city, on average, welcomes more than 5,000 newcomers every year.

“We have the longtime strong German and Ukrainian community from the settlers that came in the 1920s and 1930s primarily,” he said.

“But now, for the last 20 years we have been seeing more and more diversity coming into our community so that’s going to have a big impact on belonging.”

The Vital Signs report showed English is spoken in 90 per cent of Saskatoon homes.

The report also found French, Arabic, Spanish, Bengali, Mandarin, Ukrainian, Punjabi and Indigenous languages such as Cree, Dene and Ojibway are spoken in between two per cent and four per cent of homes.

However, the most common languages other than English are Urdu (6.2 per cent), unspecified Chinese (7.9 per cent) and Tagalog at 10.3 per cent.

Joshua Millares speaks Tagalog, one of the main languages of the Philippines, at home with his parents. He says even though his parents speak English fluently, it is a requirement in his home that he speaks Tagalog with them.

“In the Philippines, English is a priority,” Millares explains. “But with my parents I have to speak Tagalog just to respect the culture — it’s a must. It’s not so much about respect but keeping our culture alive.”

Because he and his brother spend most of their time training in various martial arts, Millares says they doesn’t spend much time speaking anything other than English — even to each other. He says it has become a bit awkward to speak Tagalog because he is slowly losing the ability.

“When I speak in my language I don’t pronounce things as good and I sound like a 12-year-old and my parents know this and call me out for it,” he says with a laugh.