Chinese Languages in Canada

Background

Many Chinese languages are not mutually understandable. However, they often share writing systems ― namely, traditional or simplified Chinese. Simplified Chinese typically has fewer strokes than traditional characters. It was created in the 1950s by the ruling Communist Party of China to promote mass literacy in the country. It was widely promoted, and simplified characters replaced traditional ones in the People’s Republic of China. In other Chinese-speaking places, like Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan, traditional characters remain the norm.

For many years, Statistics Canada did not differentiate between the different Chinese languages when collecting data. In 2001, Statistics Canada expanded the language classification to include three specific languages (Mandarin, Cantonese and Hakka) and a general category called “Chinese, n.o.s.” (not otherwise specified). In 2006, Taiwanese, Chaochow (Teochew), Fukien and Shanghainese were added to the census.

According to the 2021 census, more than 1.7 million people in Canada reported being of Chinese origin. Chinese Canadians are one of the largest ethnic groups in the country.

Mandarin Speakers in Canada

Mandarin is one of the most widely spoken languages in the world. About 1.14 billion people speak it worldwide. Mandarin Chinese is the official language of the People’s Republic of China. It is often referred to as the “common language” or Putonghua.

In Canada, Mandarin is the most commonly spoken Chinese language. About 987,300 people speak it — almost 65 per cent of the total 1.55 million Chinese speakers in the country. For most Mandarin speakers — about 678,245 — it is their mother tongue.

It is likely the most commonly spoken unofficial language in Toronto and Vancouver, with 13 per cent and 21 per cent of people in each respective city speaking Mandarin at home.

However, only 330 third-or-later-generation Chinese Canadians have it as their mother tongue.

Cantonese Speakers in Canada

Cantonese, the next most common Chinese language in Canada and worldwide, is spoken by 724,925 people in Canada. It comes from the southern part of China known as Guangdong and is widely spoken in Hong Kong. Chinese communities overseas also often speak it because many early Chinese immigrants came from this part of China. Likely because Cantonese speakers arrived in Canada earlier, most third-generation (or more) Chinese Canadians speak Cantonese: 80 per cent of them who speak Chinese have Cantonese as their mother tongue.

Did you know?
Many early Chinese immigrants in fact spoke Taishanese (Toisanese), a dialect of Cantonese.

As immigration patterns shifted, and Mandarin became more commonly spoken throughout China, Cantonese became slightly less common. In cities like Toronto, with large Chinese-speaking populations, Mandarin is now more widely spoken than Cantonese. Among the city’s nearly 6.2 million inhabitants, 4.5 per cent consider Mandarin their mother tongue while 4.3 per cent claim Cantonese as their first language. Previously, Cantonese was the second most common first language in Toronto, after English.

Min Nan Speakers in Canada

Min Nan is a group of languages spoken in southeastern China and Taiwan, like Teochew, Fukien and Taiwanese. Min Nan originated from parts of Guangdong and Fujian, and subsequently spread to Taiwan.

While there are far fewer Min Nan speakers in Canada compared to Mandarin and Cantonese speakers, Min Nan is the third most common Chinese language in Canada. Around 51,760 people speak a Min Nan language in Canada.

Other Chinese Languages in Canada

Statistics Canada lists a total of eight Chinese languages. After Min Nan, Hakka has the most speakers in Canada with 14,830 speakers. People in Chinese provinces like Guangdong, Sichuan and Hunan, as well as in Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia, speak Hakka Chinese.

Wu, or Shanghainese, is the fifth most spoken Chinese language in Canada, with 13,660 speakers in the country.