Do most Canadians speak English or French, or do they all speak both?

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T-Bone

Percentages of population that speak English and French in Canada:

English only: 67.5%, French only: 13.3%, both: 17.7%

fionna

Living in Canada, I would say the majority of people speak English only, with a smaller percentage who speak French only, and an even smaller percentage who are bilingual.

asoldierswife is wrong about one thing -- Canada's first language is NOT English -- Canada is officially bilingual, and all our official signs, government web sites & documents, packaging, etc., is in both French AND English.

Quebec is the province where you'll find the largest concentration of Francophones (French speakers), though there are also pockets in New Brunswick, Newfoundland (Labrador), Ontario and Manitoba that speak French primarily. Most (and this is a generalisation, I'll admit) of the people in the Western and midwest provinces, and some of the Atlantic provinces, speak only English. But you can find all languages in Canada ... Toronto is one of the most multicultural and cosmopolitan city on Earth!

If you're looking for Yahoo Answers in French, you can use the French (France) site: http://fr.answers.yahoo.com/

p_wabbit

the younger generations, like myself - have all leaarned French in school (mandatory up to grade 10 when I was a lad) and can get by passebly, and vice versa for young Quebecois.. but obviously not everyone is bilingual - by a long shot..especially among the generations that graduated highschool before the 1980's..

however, all federal government offices offer services in both languages - and most consumer porducts (ie food, toiletries, hardware, software, etc, etc) have bilingual packaging.. so we are exposed to both languages daily - and most reasonably intelligent people thereby glean (if even subliminally) a fair amount of French..

Myself, I find after being immersed in the language (ie in Quebec or watching French language cinema or TV) it comes back fairly readily....

Ã¨mmÂ©

Despite Canada having 2 official languages,most Canadians speak English.
However if you travel through Canada you will notice regional differences.
Most QuÃ©becois,(province of Quebec) speak mostly French. QuÃ©bec was settled by the French and the closer you get to the major centres (Montreal, Quebec City) you will find those who are bilingual. In rural Quebec you will find alot who only speak French.
New Brunswick on Canada's east coast is the only bilingual province in Canada.
The rest of the country is primarily English speaking. If they speak both it was due to schooling.
Ontario has a few pockets of people whom French is thier first Language, specifically in the Capital region around Ottawa and along the Quebec border. Also smaller communities in Northern Ontario such as Timmins, North Bay have a high density of French speaker. Penetanguishene and Lafontaine in central Ontario which were settled by the French. Most are fluently bilingual.
Since Canada is such a multicultural country embracing so many immigrants, it is possible to find neighbourhoods in some of the larger cities (Toronto, Vancouver) that some people speak neither. Hindi, Cantonese, Vietnamese, Italian & Portugese are likely spoken more often.
BTW I speak English and know only just enough French to be able to order "un cafÃ© avec la crÃ¨me" at Tim Hortons if I travel in rural Quebec.

thatchickistoast

Most speak English. New Brunswick is the only bilingual province in Canada. Of course not even close to all New Brunswickers speak both languages though. Most of the French speaking population is in Quebec, northern N.B. and parts of Nova Scotia.

Led*Zep*Babe

I think it depends on what part of Canada. Like, people in Quebec would speak more french than in another part of Canada. Its kinda like the US.......if you go to certain parts of Florida or New York you are more likely to find people who speak Spanish than say Kentucky.

koitiz28

Very few people speak both languages Fluently. Quebec is the most bilingual province in Canada, and their Primary language is French. Pretty much everywhere else in Canada it's almost pure English.

pianolady

It depends where in canada you go. I do not speak any french.

wellaem

most speak both languages

CheGuevara

The Queens English is the language of OLD CANADA. When Canada went Metric around '76 or there abouts it soon officially made French the other /equal official language of Canada. In effect it essentially created immersion programs in schools where French is not normally heard. The Federal Gov't is where you'll hear proper French spoke but on the farms and streets of Quebec the variations are so different from the language communicated in France. Quebec made films now distributed in France need sub-titles for their French audience to understand the language of quebec.
Frances version is 'diluted' according to some Quebecers whose version is more closer to the original language spoken during the time of King Louis XIV, the long era when Normandy sent large numbers of colonizers to their North America empire. French and English are seperate cultures and people in general, like Blacks and whites in USA. The younger population are those who know the work or economic benefits of being multi-lingual who speak and think bilingually and are likely to be found live in Montreal, Ottawa or working for governments in Quebec City or Fed institutes like the RCMP, Military,etc.

Its a challenge to learn and has taken French speakers from around the world 6 months to understand Quebecs language.

mckellmail

Many of us have a working knowledge of both.
English is my first language but I also speak French & Spanish.

Poutine

http://www3.telus.net/linguisticsissues/french.html Canada is officially a bilingual country but, with nearly 60% of the population speaking English as their mother-tongue, and only 24% speaking French as their first language, some people are questioning whether Canada is truly a bilingual nation or rather, a bilingual nation on paper only. French is not the only linguistic minority in Canada, and some of the languages spoken, in order of popularity, are Chinese, Italian, German, Polish, Spanish, Portuguese, Punjabi, Ukrainian, Arabic, Dutch, Tagalog, Greek, Vietnamese, Cree and Inuktitut (Statistics Canada, 1996).

ENGLISH is the FIRST LANGUAGE of CANADA.

The first Official Languages Act was adopted by Parliament in 1969.

ryanz4

Living in Canada, I know more people who speak German than french.
From just living here I'd say the vast majority speak English.

Satchmo

I lived here all my life... I would say "T Bone" has the closest answer.

Da Ben Dan

most of the french is spoken in quebec...

Jess

i think most speak english. only those from quebec speak french

old lady

Most Canadians speak English. Only a small percentage speak French only, and they are primarily in Quebec. Many speak both languages, although with varying degrees of proficiency, as French is taught in school. One of the other very popular languages in Canada (although it isn't one of the official languages) is Mandarin, as there is a large Chinese population as well.

vj_tiff

Typically, only people in Quebec speak both national languages. Very few people speak French in the western and prairie provinces. Many people in larger cities speak other languages such as Cantonese, Punjabi, Hindi etc Canada is a big mix of ethnicities. It's a beautiful thing.

speed777

most speak English

asoldierswife

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXIf anyone tells you most Canadians speak French or both languages it is absolutely not true. My husband is Canadian by birth. So are his parents, grandparents, aunts,uncles, cousins, etc. All live in Canada from Victoria Island to Ontario Canada born and raise, married with and without children. My husband speaks no French. Neither does his family, most of his neighbors etc. Canada first language is ENGLISH. CANADA is an English speaking country. There are French Canadians. Some speak French as a second language. XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

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