lrb@hpcnof.UUCP (11/20/85)
Some time ago, I remember hearing statistics concerning how certain Old World
languages were spoken with more frequency in the New World. Someone was
comparing the population of individual cities, but I can only remember a part
of the list:
1) The largest English-speaking city in the world is not in England, but rather
in America. (Greater New York)
2) The largest Spanish-speaking city in the world is not in Spain, but rather
in Mexico. (Greater Mexico City)
3) The largest French-speaking city in the world is not in France, but rather
in Canada. (Greater Montreal)
4) The largest Polish-speaking population in one city is not in Poland, but
rather in America. (Greater Chicago)
I would appreciate any corrections to the above as well as any additions.
For instance, some questions:
-Do either New York or L.A. have more Spanish speakers than Mexico City?
-Does Rio de Janeiro, Brazil have more Portugese speakers than Lisbon?
-Accor. to Webster's, Paris proper has about twice the pop. of Montreal. So it
seems strange that "greater Montreal" could be larger than "greater Paris".
-How does the list change if the criteria is changed from "(generic)-speaking"
to "(generic)-heritage". For instance, I have heard that there are far more
"Norwegian-Americans" in the States than there are Norwegians in Norway.
Of course, it may be difficult if not impossible to determine the answer to
some of these questions. For instance, how is "(generic)-speaking" defined?
Or what constitutes a "(generic)-American"? I.e. is a third generation
"Polish American" classified as "Polish-speaking" if he learned a few dozen
words of Polish from his grandparents?
-Larry Bruns
ihnp4!hpfcla!l_bruns or hplabs!hpcnof!lrbmichaelm@bcsaic.UUCP (michael b maxwell) (11/27/85)
In article <52200001@hpcnof.UUCP> lrb@hpcnof.UUCP writes: > 1) The largest English-speaking city in the world is not in England, but rather > in America. (Greater New York) (etc.) > -How does the list change if the criteria is changed from "(generic)-speaking" > to "(generic)-heritage". For instance, I have heard that there are far more > "Norwegian-Americans" in the States than there are Norwegians in Norway. I don't really believe it, but I've heard that New York is the largest Ecuadorian city... -- Mike Maxwell Boeing Artificial Intelligence Center ...uw-beaver!uw-june!bcsaic!michaelm
sra@oddjob.UUCP (Scott R. Anderson) (11/29/85)
In article <389@bcsaic.UUCP> michaelm@bcsaic.UUCP (michael b maxwell) writes: >In article <52200001@hpcnof.UUCP> lrb@hpcnof.UUCP writes: >> 1) The largest English-speaking city in the world is not in England, but >> rather in America. (Greater New York) >> For instance, I have heard that there are far more >> "Norwegian-Americans" in the States than there are Norwegians in Norway. >I don't really believe it, but I've heard that New York is the largest >Ecuadorian city... And, of course, Chicago is the second-largest Polish city in the world (after Warsaw, of course). -- Scott Anderson ihnp4!oddjob!kaos!sra
andrew@stc.UUCP (11/30/85)
In article <52200001@hpcnof.UUCP> lrb@hpcnof.UUCP wrote about lingual
distribution in the new world.
This prompted a memory of a conversation which I had had with a Canadian on
a ferry, and I would be grateful if someone could confirm/deny his assertion:
``The French-Canadians are the Fifth language group in Canada, after
English, Ukranian, German and Norwegian.''
- My ordering here is probably wrong.
I ask this out of a desire to know, I have NO interest in Canadian Politics,
or whether French should be the primary language in Ottowa (or any of the
others for that matter) so no flames please.
--
Regards,
Andrew Macpherson. <andrew@stc.UUCP>
{aivru,creed,datlog,iclbra,iclkid,idec,inset,root44,stl,ukc}!stc!andrewmsb@lsuc.UUCP (Mark Brader) (12/04/85)
Andrew Macpherson (andrew@stc.UUCP) writes from England: > This prompted a memory of a conversation which I had had with a Canadian on > a ferry, and I would be grateful if someone could confirm/deny his assertion: > ``The French-Canadians are the Fifth language group in Canada, after > English, Ukranian [sic], German and Norwegian.'' > - My ordering here is probably wrong. > I ask this out of a desire to know, I have NO interest in Canadian Politics... I'm sure nobody from around here needs to be told how wrong this is, but since the original was posted netwide, I'll do likewise with this reply. My figures are from the 1981 census. The population of Canada was then 24,343,181, of whom 35.43% lived in Ontario and 26.45% in Quebec. All the classifications are by *native* language. (I don't know what they did about people who grew up speaking more than one language, but I'm afraid Canada doesn't have a great number of such people anyway.) First, for the country as a whole, the distribution is: English 61.28%, French 25.67%, Italian 2.17%, German 2.15%, Ukrainian 1.20%, Chinese 0.92%, Portuguese 0.68%, "Indian" and Inuit 0.68%, others 5.24%. Now, 84.92% of the French speakers are in Quebec; in Quebec, French is first with 82.43% of the population and English a distant second at 10.97%. But even in the rest of Canada excluding Quebec, French is still second: English 79.38%, French 5.26%, German 2.79%, Italian 2.21%, Ukrainian 1.57%, Chinese 1.17%, Portuguese 0.78%, "Indian" and Inuit 0.77%, others 6.08%. However, there is one province where the statistics do look like what the man on the ferry said. That's Saskatchewan, which has just 3.97% of the national population. The figures for Saskatchewan alone are: English 79.60%, German 6.16%, Ukrainian 4.61%, French 2.64%, "Indian" and Inuit 2.51%, Chinese 0.52%, Italian 0.13%, Portuguese 0.03%, others 3.82%. Since "others" is substantially larger than French and since Saskatchewan's distribution is substantially different from the national average, it is possible that French is indeed 5th there. I wouldn't have guessed that Norwegian would be the top "other", but maybe I just don't know. Anyway, the conclusion is that what the man said, or what you thought he said, was certainly wrong, but may be right if "Saskatchewan" is substituted for "Canada". By the way, the correct pronunciation of "Saskatchewan" is with just one accent, on the second syllable. Mark Brader, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
fred@mot.UUCP (Fred Christiansen) (12/04/85)
> This prompted a memory of a conversation which I had had with a Canadian on > a ferry, and I would be grateful if someone could confirm/deny his assertion: > ``The French-Canadians are the Fifth language group in Canada, after > English, Ukranian, German and Norwegian.'' > Regards, > Andrew Macpherson. <andrew@stc.UUCP> hmm. i wonder if that's why my parents tell of the good ol' Irish name they came across at school in the '40's: O'Maharechillelinskyorskachorskyiniacakacovitch (sp?) :-) -- << Generic disclaimer >> Fred Christiansen ("Canajun, eh?") @ Motorola Microsystems, Tempe, AZ UUCP: {seismo!terak, trwrb!flkvax, utzoo!mnetor, ihnp4}!mot!fred ARPA: oakhill!mot!fred@ut-sally.ARPA "Families are Forever"