Canada 150

This July 1^st 2017, we will celebrate the 150 Anniversary of Canada. My gift to this great country is this article where I highlight the relations that exist between Canada and Languages, in 10 interesting points. Some points may be updated once the data from Census 2016 regarding languages is released. Here are my points.      

1.- Canada has 2 official languages: English and French. This means that both languages enjoy equal status and at a federal level, services must be available in both languages. In the parliament, in both, the House of Commons and in the Senate, discussions can occur in English and/or French and the legislation must be enacted in both languages. Federal Administration and Federal courts are also bilingual. But bilingualism in Canada does not mean that provinces must be Bilingual, in fact, only one in 10 provinces have official Bilingual status: New Brunswick. The province of Quebec is the only one that has French as its official language but offers some services in English. Most of the other provinces, although are mainly Anglophones, offer also some services in French. Bilingualism in Canada does not require individuals to be Bilingual, in Fact, out of more than 33 million people who live in Canada according to the 2011 census, only 5.8 Million are bilingual in English and French. There are more than 4 million people in Canada who speak French but do not know English. Most of French only speakers and most of the people who speak English and French live in Quebec.

2.- There are more than 60 aboriginal languages in Canada. According to 2011 Census, there are aprox. 213.000 Speakers of Aboriginal languages. The 3 most spoken languages are Cree, with more than 83.000 speakers, Inuktitut with more than 34.000 and Ojibway with more than 19.000. In the page of the University of Ottawa for language management in Canada, https://slmc.uottawa.ca/ , it can be read that aboriginal languages in Canada are allocated in 8 linguistic groups, being the most common the Algonquian family, Na-Dene Family and Eskimo-Aleut, This last is considering the number of speakers of those languages. There are 9 aboriginal languages that enjoy official status in Northwest Territories. Inuktitut, an Eskimo language, has official status in N.T and in Nunavut. Most of aboriginal languages have recognition in the Provinces.

3.- The official motto of Canada is in Latin, “A mari usque ad mare”, which is translated as “From Sea to Sea”. In the website of the Canadian Encyclopedia http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/ there is a page where this motto is explained. This Phrase was taken from the Bible’s Psalm 72:8, that in that time it was mainly read in Latin. The whole phrase is “Et dominabitur a mari usque ad mare, et a flumine usque ad terminos terrae”.  This was chosen as the motto of the Dominion of Canada in the act that was drafted in 1867. But is not only the nation who has chosen a motto in Latin. From the 8 provinces who also have a motto, 6 of them chose one in Latin. As an example, I mention my own province, Ontario, whose motto is “Ut Incepit Fidelis sic Permanet” translated as “Loyal she began, Loyal she remains”.

4.- Canada’s National anthem, O Canada! Was first played on June 24^th 1880 and proclaimed to be the national anthem on July 1^st 1980. It has an official lyric in English and another in French. Not many people know that both lyrics do not have the same meaning. The original lyrics were written in French by Canadian lawyer Sir Adolphe-Basile Routhier. We still have the same lyrics today. For reasons we are not going to write about, the lyrics in English were changing throughout the years. There is also an official Bilingual version that combines phrases from both official lyrics in English and French. There are also non official versions in other languages that have even been sung in public events. In the website http://adamhill.ca/ocanada/ we can see translations of the lyrics of O Canada in many other languages, starting from aboriginal languages like Inuktitut, Cree or Mi’kmaq, to other languages spoken by immigrants like Italian, German, Ukrainian, Tagalog and a more recent translation in Arabic. It is curious that most of the translations of O Canada, are based in the English version. The Polish translation is almost the same as in English, while the Ukrainian and Arabic versions are still based in the English lyric but the final lyrics are different. There is also a Latin Lyrics, based in the French version.

5.- Being bilingual is not a requirement to be Prime Minister of Canada. However, after the government of the Right Honourable Lester Pearson, the tendency has been that all Prime Ministers were able to communicate in Both English and French.  Canada had had Prime Ministers who were either Native speakers of English or French, who were English only speakers or who were fluent in both. Wilfred Laurier was the first French Native speaker and the first Bilingual Prime Minister of the country. None French only speaker has been in this position, and this is explained because the majority of MP in the Canadian parliament are Anglophones and in this position the person needs to lead a majority. All the Prime Ministers had had a diverse cabinet with members of both communities. It is also interesting to note that the first 2 Prime Ministers of Canada, John MacDonald and Alexander Mackenzie, both were born in Scotland, and their mother tongue was probably not English, by Gaelic.

6.- Some Aboriginal languages in Canada use their own script system, that is not used in any other country. This system is syllabic and was invented by English Missionary James Evans. After he was ordained as Methodist Minister, he went to preach to Aborigines who spoke Ojibway and Cree. In www.proel.org can be read the history of this script. He tried to translate the Bible to those languages using Latin script, but those who tried to read what he wrote had a very hard time understanding it cause those languages has very different systems of sounds that are hardly compatible with Latin, the use of long vowels are common and some words are finally very long. Then he created a script base on syllables based on Geometry, very easy to learn. The same symbol can be rotated resulting in same consonant with a different vowel. As an example, ˂ = “pa”, ˃ = “pu”, ˄ = “pi” and ˅ = “pe”.  Symbols oriented to the right are accompanied by an “a” sound. If it is oriented Down then It has an “I” sound, and so. This same system was later adapted to languages such as Inuktitut and Chipewyan. Inuktitut is the language that uses it the most.

Some Examples:

English                      Cree                                       Inuktitut

-Welcome                  ᑕᑕᐊᐧᐤ  Tatawaw      ᑐᓐᖓᓱᒋᓪ  Tunngasugit

-How are you?         ᑕᓂᓯ  Tanisi           ᖃᓄᐃᑉᐱᑦ  Qanuippit

-Thank You              ᑭᓇᓈᐢᑯᒥᑎᐣ Kinanaaskumitin          ᖁᔭᓐᓇᒦᒃ  Qujannamiik

-Sea                           ᑭᐦᒋᑲᒥ Kichikami      ᑕᕆᐅᖅ Tariuq

-Polar Bear               ᐋᐸᐢᐠ  Wapask        ᓇᓄᖅ Nanuq

In http://www.translitteration.com/transliteration/en/inuktitut/canadian-aboriginal-syllabics/ there is a very easy to use keyboard to write in Inuktitut. The words used here were searched in http://www.tusaalanga.ca/glossary.  In the page http://www.creedictionary.com/ you can find meanings of words in Cree and a keyboard in Cree with different options.

7.- Francophone Canadians are famous for speaking a different kind of French, very often not really intelligible with French Speakers more used to the way it is spoken in France. According to the Canadian Encyclopedia, there are many variants of French language spoken in Canada, being the main ones the French spoken in Quebec and the one spoken by Acadians. There are other variants like Metis and Madawaskan. Although there are differences between Metropolitan French and Canadian French, they can understand each other by written and when they speak formally. It is when they speak informally when they may not understand each other. Canadian French has adopted many English words from the British and the USA. We can find words like “Chum” for friend, “Blonde” for Girl friend, “Pentoute” like saying “Pas du tout” also translated as “Not at all” In Quebec. The word “tu” instead of “vous” is used much more than in France. There are much more differences, some of them even go to the Grammar. Because I am not an expert in this topic, I prefer to refer my readers to other pages where they can find more info, one of them is https://www.talkinfrench.com/canadian-french-difference/

8.- Canadian English exists as a separate variety of English, with its pronunciation and Vocabulary. But its features still are similar to the English spoken in the USA and in the UK. About the spelling…..“Let’s summarize: Wearing my pyjamas, I am sitting in my cozy grey sofa reading the Canadian Encyclopedia. In the centre of the organization, the panellists criticize the colours used for the presentation.

9.- According to the page http://www12.statcan.gc.ca from Statistics Canada, there are more than 200 languages spoken in Canada, and the source of this information is the Census 2011. But this page also shows a very interesting table where the languages of the immigrants are classified by family of languages. In 2011, there were 3 families that already had more than a million speakers in Canada. They were: Romance languages, with almost 1.2 million speakers of languages that include Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, and other languages not mention like Romanian and Catalan; Indo-Iranian languages with almost 1.18 million speakers of languages that include Persian, Urdu, Punjabi, Hindi, Gujarati and many other languages not mention like Pashtu for example; Chinese languages, the biggest non Indo-European family of languages spoken in Canada, with more than 1.112 million speakers.   

10.- Do you need a certified translation to or from a language like Assyrian, Gagauz, Twi, Quechua, Tahitian, Tibetan, Ewe and many other?  You do not need to go that far. Come to Toronto! One of the most multilingual cities in the world and where there are interpretation and translation services in many languages you would not expect. Toronto, a city where anything related with languages is possible.   

   

Oh Canada! Our Home and Native Land! The true North strong and free!

My Best wishes for a very special Anniversary! Success and Happiness for those who live in this country! Many Dreams Become True!  Happy Canada Day!  

O Canada! Ton histoire est une épopée, Des plus brillants exploits!

Que ce jour t’apporte toutes les choses et les souvenirs qui te font sourire ! Bonne fête du Canada !

ᐆ ᑲᓇᑕ! ᓄᓇᑦᓯᐊ  

ᓇᓪᓕᐅᓂᖅᓯᐅᑦᓯᐊᕆᑦ!

ᐆ  ᑲᓇᑕ!  ᒥᔪ  ᓂᐦᑕᐃᐧᑭᐃᐧᐣ  ᑭᓯᑲᐤ 

¡Canadá! ¡Tierra de Libertad! ¡Tierra que Amamos!

Mis Mejores deseos para ti por este Aniversario tan especial y el Futuro será aún mejor!  

O Canada! Patria d’amor, glorioso il tuo cantar!

Tanti Auguri! Buon Anniversario!

کانادا!  کشور بزرگ!  کشور عشق!  زادروزت خجسته باد! شاد وپیروز باشید!

  صد هزارا ن هزار آفرین باد

加拿大！ 祝你的生日充满欢乐!

О Канада! Кохана вітчизно! Щиро вас вітаємо з день ювілей! многая літа!

O Kanado! Mi kore Salutas vin por vian 150-an jariĝon. Miaj bondezirojn! Sanon kaj sukcesojn por ĉiuj ke loĝas en la lando.