Half a million Canadians speak Punjabi at houses

Ottawa: According to data released by the Canadian Census Department today, the dominance of South-Asian dialects has increased in the country due to the increase in immigration in the last five years.

Punjabi and Mandarin (Chinese language) are the most spoken languages in the country after English and French.

The number of people speaking the mother tongue in homes has crossed the 46 lakh mark from the figure (40 lakh) five years ago.

According to the details, from May 2016 to December 2021, every fifth person who became permanent residents of Canada is born in India, and every tenth of them is from areas of China or the Philippines where Mandarin is spoken.

In the last five years, the number of speakers of European languages (Italian, Greek and Polish) has decreased.

Despite this, 90 percent of Canadians speak English and French in government and public places because both of these languages are officially recognized.

According to data released in 2013, Punjabi was the third most spoken language in Canada after English and French.