The great Canadian language mash-up

English and French are Canada’s two official languages, but many other languages and distinct dialects are spoken daily across the country, whether at home, while shopping, dining, or at family or social gatherings. The likelihood of speaking a non-official language at home depends on which non-official language is being spoken and whether all household members know it. 

Spanish is the most spoken non-official language in Canada

In 2021, almost all Canadians (98%) knew English or French, the country’s two official languages. Around 10.7 million people, or nearly 3 in 10 Canadians, could converse in a non-official language. The most commonly spoken non-official languages in Canada in 2021 were Spanish (1.2 million people), Mandarin (987,300) and Punjabi (942,200).

Korean and Iranian Persian among the leading non-official languages only spoken at home

In 2021, Korean (37%) was among the leading non-official languages only spoken at home where every member knew the same non-official language, followed by Iranian Persian (34%), Mandarin (31%) and Cantonese (31%).

Conversely, Hebrew (7%) and Hindi (4%) ranked among the least exclusively spoken non-official languages at home where every household member knew the language. Hebrew (36%) and Hindi (31%) also ranked among the leading non-official languages not spoken at home when everyone in the household knew the language. Of note, Hindi was the fifth-largest non-official language spoken in Canada in 2021 with 761,400 speakers.

Non-official, official language mishmash

Most Canadian households where everyone in the home can speak a non-official language also converse in another language at home, usually English or French. 

Let’s take Tagalog as an example, the sixth leading non-official language spoken in 2021 with 737,600 speakers. Almost every household where all members knew Tagalog spoke the language at home (93%), with almost one in seven (15%) speaking only Tagalog at home, while just under four in five (78%) speaking Tagalog in combination with at least one other language. 

English was spoken at home in over four in five households where everyone knew Tagalog, Hindi, German, Urdu, Gujarati, Bengali or Tamil.

Arabic was the fourth most spoken non-official language in Canada in 2021 with 838,000 speakers. Almost 9 in 10 (88%) households where everyone knew Arabic spoke the language, with 15% of household members only speaking Arabic at home and 73% speaking Arabic in combination with another language. 

In 2021, French was spoken at home in more than 30% of households where everyone knew Spanish, Arabic or Romanian.

To learn more about non-official languages spoken in Canadian households, check out the infographic Non-official languages spoken at home in Canada, 2021.