Tabulation: Detailed Mother Tongue (158), Generation Status (4), Knowledge of Official Languages (5), Number of Non-Official Languages Spoken (5), Age Groups (10) and Sex (3) for the Population in Private Households of Canada, Provinces and Territories, 2011 National Household Survey

• Knowledge of official languages (5): Total - Knowledge of official languages
• Number of non-official languages spoken (5): Total - Number of non-official languages spoken
• Age groups (10): Total - Age groups
• Sex (3): Total - Sex

This table details detailed mother tongue , generation status , knowledge of official languages , number of non-official languages spoken , age groups and sex for the population in private households in Canada^{Footnote 1}
Global non-response rate (GNR)^{Footnote 2} = 26.1 %

Detailed mother tongue (158)	Generation status (4)
	Total - Generation status	First generation^Footnote 3	Second generation^Footnote 4	Third generation or more^Footnote 5
Total - Detailed mother tongue	32,852,325	7,217,300	5,702,725	19,932,300
Single responses	32,369,375	6,989,065	5,520,185	19,860,130
English	18,850,405	1,694,640	3,994,255	13,161,510
French	6,967,455	259,465	336,750	6,371,245
Non-official languages	6,551,520	5,034,965	1,189,180	327,375
Aboriginal languages	193,860	1,010	1,580	191,265
Romance languages	1,096,130	822,770	256,180	17,180
Italian	403,425	250,235	140,280	12,910
Portuguese	207,980	160,750	45,625	1,605
Romanian	84,100	75,620	8,240	235
Spanish	399,810	335,465	61,935	2,410
Catalan	560	525	35	0
Romance languages, n.i.e.	260	175	60	25
Germanic languages	536,790	342,875	127,990	65,925
Dutch	110,250	90,220	16,855	3,175
Flemish	4,865	3,550	1,160	155
Frisian	2,460	2,160	280	0
German	366,960	210,720	94,950	61,290
Yiddish	14,930	5,560	8,905	460
Scandinavian languages	28,405	22,510	5,095	795
Danish	14,320	12,515	1,710	95
Icelandic	1,430	615	375	435
Norwegian	5,180	3,600	1,485	100
Swedish	7,480	5,785	1,530	170
Afrikaans	8,525	7,790	715	25
Germanic languages, n.i.e.	390	370	25	0
Celtic languages	2,960	2,360	280	325
Gaelic languages	1,640	1,125	195	320
Welsh	1,170	1,135	40	0
Celtic languages, n.i.e.	145	95	45	0
Slavic languages	668,185	488,730	148,110	31,350
Belarusian (Byelorussian)	685	560	120	0
Bosnian	11,380	10,160	1,200	0
Bulgarian	18,125	16,550	1,545	30
Croatian	47,700	34,995	11,880	820
Czech	22,010	18,375	3,460	170
Macedonian	16,200	11,820	4,245	135
Polish	187,450	143,695	41,475	2,280
Russian	162,340	142,535	15,660	4,140
Serbian	53,625	43,910	9,580	130
Serbo-Croatian	9,840	8,780	1,020	40
Slovak	15,935	11,875	3,920	140
Slovenian	10,585	7,625	2,910	50
Ukrainian	108,590	34,800	50,545	23,255
Slavic languages, n.i.e.	3,720	3,045	535	145
Baltic languages	13,320	8,570	4,385	370
Latvian	5,990	3,970	1,900	120
Lithuanian	7,330	4,595	2,485	245
Greek	111,405	64,705	40,705	5,995
Armenian	30,510	23,045	7,230	235
Albanian	23,475	20,975	2,455	50
Georgian	775	735	40	0
Finno-Ugric languages	84,770	60,730	22,100	1,935
Estonian	6,055	3,870	1,980	200
Finnish	15,495	8,865	5,745	885
Hungarian	63,220	47,995	14,380	855
Turkic languages	35,755	30,250	5,475	25
Azerbaijani	2,695	2,580	115	0
Turkish	29,975	24,925	5,020	25
Turkic languages, n.i.e.	3,090	2,745	345	0
Mongolian	1,085	1,060	35	0
Afro-Asiatic languages	442,740	374,475	67,280	985
Berber languages (Kabyle)	6,120	5,595	525	0
Cushitic languages	42,440	33,655	8,770	20
Oromo	11,995	10,685	1,305	0
Somali	30,450	22,970	7,465	15
Semitic languages	392,145	333,340	57,835	965
Amharic	18,045	16,480	1,540	20
Arabic	323,125	273,230	49,165	730
Hebrew	18,105	14,875	3,080	150
Maltese	5,940	5,280	600	60
Tigrigna	9,350	8,680	665	0
Semitic languages, n.i.e.	17,570	14,785	2,780	0
Afro-Asiatic languages, n.i.e.	2,035	1,885	155	0
Indo-Iranian languages	1,084,045	867,665	213,555	2,830
Indo-Aryan languages	885,520	693,690	189,210	2,620
Bengali	58,900	49,645	9,220	40
Gujarati	91,310	77,100	14,175	35
Hindi	93,190	80,405	12,560	225
Konkani	2,830	2,790	45	0
Marathi	5,920	5,475	445	0
Panjabi (Punjabi)	433,280	313,820	117,490	1,970
Sindhi	10,330	8,915	1,400	15
Sinhala (Sinhalese)	14,555	13,725	815	10
Urdu	165,375	132,355	32,710	310
Nepali	9,820	9,475	345	0
Iranian languages	192,130	168,330	23,610	195
Kurdish	10,055	8,130	1,885	40
Pashto	12,525	9,800	2,730	0
Persian (Farsi)	169,545	150,400	19,000	145
Indo-Iranian languages, n.i.e.	6,400	5,645	735	20
Dravidian languages	176,515	145,585	30,775	150
Kannada	2,770	2,540	235	0
Malayalam	17,695	16,325	1,370	0
Tamil	146,710	118,100	28,455	150
Telugu	8,940	8,250	695	0
Dravidian languages, n.i.e.	395	375	0	0
Japanese	40,180	29,915	9,470	795
Korean	137,215	126,365	10,755	90
Sino-Tibetan languages	1,079,360	909,945	167,145	2,270
Chinese languages	1,066,950	898,310	166,390	2,255
Cantonese	381,575	299,400	81,065	1,105
Chaochow (Teochow)	2,920	2,270	645	0
Fukien	6,510	6,160	345	0
Hakka	4,975	4,360	610	0
Mandarin	252,295	225,970	26,095	240
Shanghainese	3,075	2,870	200	0
Taiwanese	9,655	9,205	440	0
Chinese, n.o.s.	405,945	348,080	56,980	880
Tibetan languages	4,850	4,420	425	0
Burmese	3,430	3,295	115	15
Sino-Tibetan languages, n.i.e.	4,130	3,910	215	0
Tai languages	21,490	18,625	2,795	70
Lao	13,890	11,385	2,440	65
Thai	7,595	7,240	355	0
Austro-Asiatic languages	176,660	135,645	40,495	515
Khmer (Cambodian)	21,750	17,260	4,445	40
Vietnamese	154,910	118,380	36,050	475
Malayo-Polynesian languages	430,725	413,255	17,055	410
Bisayan languages	18,315	18,065	235	15
Ilocano	19,665	19,215	430	25
Malay	10,960	10,540	415	0
Pampango	3,045	2,865	170	0
Tagalog (Pilipino, Filipino)	371,500	355,590	15,560	345
Bikol	1,380	1,365	0	0
Malagasy	1,190	1,135	55	0
Fijian	1,155	1,040	115	0
Pangasinan	1,095	1,080	0	0
Malayo-Polynesian languages, n.i.e.	2,420	2,350	55	0
Niger-Congo languages	73,565	68,545	4,825	195
Akan (Twi)	13,440	11,665	1,685	90
Bantu languages	33,905	32,190	1,640	70
Lingala	3,735	3,545	185	0
Rundi (Kirundi)	4,530	4,425	105	0
Rwanda (Kinyarwanda)	4,060	3,915	135	0
Shona	2,725	2,625	100	0
Swahili	10,000	9,145	820	35
Ganda	1,050	1,005	50	0
Bantu languages, n.i.e.	7,800	7,530	250	0
Edo	1,140	1,080	55	0
Igbo	3,105	2,960	140	0
Wolof	2,645	2,540	105	0
Bamanankan	1,045	955	85	0
Ewe	1,500	1,470	30	0
Ga	985	900	80	0
Niger-Congo languages, n.i.e.	15,815	14,780	1,000	35
African languages, n.i.e.	9,915	8,325	1,585	0
Creoles	71,070	65,745	5,220	100
Non-verbal languages	6,380	855	1,245	4,285
American Sign Language	1,795	200	240	1,355
Quebec Sign Language	410	35	15	360
Sign languages, n.i.e.	4,175	625	985	2,570
Other languages	2,635	2,225	400	15
Multiple responses	482,945	228,230	182,545	72,175
English and French	57,820	3,745	10,630	43,445
English and non-official language	353,530	180,115	148,310	25,110
French and non-official language	65,315	41,840	20,620	2,855
English, French and non-official language	6,280	2,530	2,985	760

Symbol(s)

Symbol ..

not available for a specific reference period

Symbol ...

not applicable

Symbol x

suppressed to meet the confidentiality requirements of the Statistics Act

Symbol F

too unreliable to be published

Footnote(s)

Footnote 1

Excludes National Household Survey data for one or more incompletely enumerated Indian reserves or Indian settlements.

Footnote 2

For the 2011 National Household Survey (NHS) estimates, the global non-response rate (GNR) is used as an indicator of data quality. This indicator combines complete non-response (household) and partial non-response (question) into a single rate. The value of the GNR is presented to users. A smaller GNR indicates a lower risk of non-response bias and as a result, lower risk of inaccuracy. The threshold used for estimates' suppression is a GNR of 50% or more. For more information, please refer to the National Household Survey User Guide, 2011.

Footnote 3

'First generation' includes persons who were born outside Canada. For the most part, these are people who are now, or have ever been, immigrants to Canada.

Footnote 4

'Second generation' includes persons who were born in Canada and had at least one parent born outside Canada. For the most part, these are the children of immigrants.

Footnote 5

'Third generation or more' includes persons who were born in Canada with both parents born in Canada.

Source: Statistics Canada, 2011 National Household Survey, Statistics Canada Catalogue no. 99-010-X2011034.