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Punjabi marching ahead in
Canadian Punjab
WSN Network
VANCOUVER:
Much
interest was elicited in Punjab this past week as sections of the
media reported some language related demographic figures claiming
that the latest census in Canada has shown a 35 per cent increase in
Punjabi-speaking people over the 2001 figures, and thus Punjabi was
well on its way to become become the fourth largest spoken language
in Canada.
Right now,
Punjabi is at number six, following English, French, Chinese,
Italian and German. Of course in
British Columbia,
often called the "Canadian Punjab", it has already clocked the
fourth position. With Punjabis crowding immigration applicants, the
language may soon surpass Italian and German in another five years,
experts said.
Some media
reports quoted Balwant Sanghera, president of the Punjabi Language
Education Association (PLEA) that is celebrating the sixth
International Mother Language Day on February 24, as citing census
figures to underline that 367,505 people have put their mother
tongue as Punjabi compared, thus resulting in a 35 per cent jump
over 2001 figure.
Punjabi is one
among ten most spoken languages out of a total of 6,000 in the
world. In British Columbia
province, Punjabi is taught in the University of British Columbia (UBC),
Simon
Fraser
University,
University College of the Fraser Valley, Kwantlen University College
and many schools.
Hospitals, city
halls, airports and markets carry Punjabi signs. Many are proud to
mention the event when
Vancouver
mayor Sam Sullivan spoke in Punjabi taking every one by surprise at
a Sikh function.
Among the two
leading lights who have pushed for Punjabi's cause are the retired
BC school psychologist Sanghera and Sadhu Binning, professor of
Punjabi at the University of British Columbia.
13 February 2008
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