Italian Heritage Language in Toronto

What is a Heritage language?

A heritage language is a language which is not considered the official or common tongue of a region in a given social setting. In many places around the world, there are two types of languages: the national language which is often the one spoken by the dominant group in said country, and the minority language which is also referred to as heritage languages. In Italy, for example, the official language Italian is a descendant of a regional minority language known as Tuscan. but Italy also has small numbers of speakers of other languages such as Venetian, which is linguistically similar to French. Toronto is a very diverse place where approximately 160 different languages are spoken with varying degrees of fluency by its 6 million inhabitants which originate from 200 different ethnic origins. Not counting French, Italian and various languages of the Sino-Tibetan family are the most commonly spoken heritage languages. It has been found that 49% of Torontonians are actually foreign born and this the number of heritage language speakers in this city is quite large. Heritage languages often find themselves endangered as their speakers opt to speak the common tongue of the region, in the case of Toronto, English. Many heritage languages die out in a family by the time it reaches its third generation. Part of the reason is that many people find it easier to learn to speak a language that almost everyone else in the city already speaks as a first or second language than it is to keep the language of their parents or grandparents. People tend to talk differently to different people and in different scenarios. Sometimes, people can understand more of a language than they can actually speak. Children of immigrants can feel a bit alienated, trapped between parents whose broken English leaves them vulnerable to exploitation and within a society that mainly communicates in English.

Italian speakers in Toronto

Toronto has one of the highest populations of Italian immigrants in North America. Many of these immigrants are second and third and occasionally fourth generation immigrants so very few are actually fluent in Italian but many still consider themselves Italian by blood. Some Italian-Canadians tried to show their status by using Italian words in regular speech and eating like Italians. Many of them grapple with stereotypes associated with speaking Italian in Canada. They face these stereotypes quite often in the media even in Italian language shows or books. The experiences of the Italian Canadians shows that speakers of heritage languages - and often their children and grandchildren - frequently feel alienated in a country which theoretically should be accepting and understanding of all people. Toronto is not the only place in North America which has seen a heavy influx of Italian immigrants in the past few decades or the only city to be blessed with the ability to adopt customs or cuisine brought over by the hundreds of thousands of immigrants that fled Italy after WW2.

History of Italians in Toronto

Toronto was one of three main destinations for Italian migrants starting in the late 19th century. Over the next one hundred years, many refugees would escape poverty and fascism to settle in Toronto. Part of what spurred the initial exodus was a series of failed reforms in the newly unified country which led to millions of people becoming homeless. Many of the Italian migrants were skilled when it came to construction projects whether it required building railways or working as stone-masons to construct new homes and facilities for a rapidly growing Toronto. These settlers relied on a xenophobic system known as padrone which was a contractual labor system - it was more common in the United States but was frequently also applied in Canada. This was a system where foreigners would be recruited from all over the world to work, essentially for free. The word comes from Italian, it simply means boss or manager. The people who arranged for these migrants to come often took charge with paying for their workers to come to Canada and supplied them with equipment but otherwise the padrone system was rather unkind to the people working under it.

Facilities for Italian Heritage Language in Toronto

The Italian language is considered to be quite pleasant sounding to many non-native speakers thus there are many people in Toronto who will seek out Italian language media, products or facilities regardless of whether they speak the language or not. One such institution where people can learn how to speak Italian is the Istituto Italiano Di Cultura or the Italian Culture Institute which is actually part of a larger franchise with some 50 locations spread around the world. Torontonians, regardless of whether they speak Italian or not, can visit the location on 496 Huron Street. Unfortunately, despite the linguistic diversity of Toronto, most schools only use either French or English as the languages of instruction throughout elementary and secondary school. However, some Catholic Schools in the Greater Toronto Area have a program where Italian or other Heritage languages can be taught after school. If enough people request that their children be taught the language during ordinary classes, the school-day will be lengthened to accommodate the program which is called the International Languages Program. It is very important to note that this program only exists for children in Elementary school. Prospecting secondary or college students will need to rely on a foreign exchange program if they wish to regain their lost heritage.

References

This article "Italian Heritage Language in Toronto" is from Wikipedia. The list of its authors can be seen in its historical. Articles copied from Draft Namespace on Wikipedia could be seen on the Draft Namespace of Wikipedia and not main one.

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