However, when you walk the streets of Canada’s largest cities you are sure to hear a symphony of mother tongues, including Mandarin, Cantonese, Punjabi and Tagalog, followed by Spanish, Arabic, Italian, German and Urdu.

Language diversity is one of the major reasons that multiculturalism is celebrated in Canada and the benefits provide everyone with a wealth of unique experiences in foods, music, art, philosophy, and that most Canadian of assets, openness.

Being an officially bilingual country is perhaps the biggest part of what defines Canada’s peoples. In 2009, Graham Fraser, Canada’s Official Languages Commissioner, said, “... in the same way that race is at the core of what it means to be American... and class is at the core of the British experience, I think that language is at the core of the Canadian experience.”

Canada promotes its bilingualism by assuring that students – from day care to elementary to high school – are taught to speak and write English and French as skilfully as possible. It’s the key to achieving success in education and career, but it’s also the key to experiencing life to the fullest in Canada, which is why many adults continue to study one or both languages after graduation.

Yes, there are some who don’t see the value in bilingualism, but that often results in limited opportunities in work and society. The ability to speak two languages, and more, is applauded by most Canadians, and many across the world.

It’s no surprise that the core of Canadian business in Quebec, Ontario and New Brunswick embraces bilingualism more than most due to their high numbers of French-speaking inhabitants. While a majority of Canadians speak English, there are small French-speaking communities across the country that count for one-fifth of the nation’s population.

So, if someone asks whether you speak Canadian, you simply say, “Oui, yes... eh?”

For more information about language schools in Canada, visit: TheGreenboards.com