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Dozens of languages represented in Agassiz-Harrison: Census data

Languages from all over the world identified as mother tongues, data indicates
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A number of languages throughout the world are understood right here in Agassiz-Harrison. (File Photo)

How many languages are spoke in Agassiz-Harrison? More than you might think.

Recently released 2021 census data from Statistics Canada creates a profile of different languages spoken from the municipal level to national. It may come as no surprise that many residents in the area speak primarily English, but there are other ways of communication used here at home as well.

In the District of Kent 4,905 people identified English as their mother tongue; mother tongue refers to the first language learned at home in childhood and still understood at the time of data collection. Another 65 people learned French first while 650 people indicated a non-official language (in Canada’s case, languages other than English or French) was their mother tongue.

30 people declared Vietnamese as their mother tongue while 25 spoke Tagalog, a language spoken in parts of the Philippines. Five people identified as speaking another Austronesian language not identified in the census. Five other people spoke Malayalam, which is spoken in parts of southern India.

Other languages spoken in India were present in the District of Kent, including Bengali (five), Punjabi (25) and Hindi (15). Several other Asian languages appear in the census, including Mandarin (20), Korean (20) and Lao (five).

More than 500 people spoke Indo-European languages, of which 50 spoke Balto-Slavic languages. 10 selected Czech as their mother tongue, 15 Polish, 10 Russian, five Serbian and 10 Ukrainian.

The most common non-official language spoken in the area is Dutch with 185 people identifying it as their mother tongue. Several languages throughout Europe were represented in the most recent census, including Spanish (50), German (90), Swiss German (25), and Danish (15).

In Harrison Hot Springs, more than 1,500 people identified English as their mother tongue and 30 saying French. Five people identified an Indigenous language as their mother tongue.

More than 250 Harrison residents have identified a non-official language as their mother tongue. As with neighbouring District of Kent, Harrison has multiple Asian languages represented in its population, including Vietnamese (five), Tagalog (five), Korean (30) and Punjabi (35).

The most common non-official mother tongue in the village is German with 50 speakers. Other European languages spoken as mother tongues in Harrison include Dutch (25), Italian (10), Portuguese (10) and Hungarian (five).

For more census data, visit statcan.ca.