Mahreen Siddiqui knows how important it is to keep her mother tongue alive at home.
The mother of three says if her kids didn’t speak Urdu, they wouldn’t be representing their culture.
“I think your mother tongue is always important. And it should be important for everyone,” she said. “It doesn’t matter what they speak. I think the real meaning to that language is within that language. You cannot translate it.”
Her daughter Anayah Hashmi is in Grade 5 at Regina’s Huda School. The 10-year-old is learning Urdu at home from her mom, dad and siblings, who all speak Urdu in addition to English.
“They kind of teach me how to speak Urdu, but I am not fluent in it,” she said.
Her mother says it’s really important to be able understand others speaking Urdu.
“For sake of argument, if my kids are always speaking English, right? And they have no way to communicate with my own people, they would not be recognized as their community, right? They will be recognized more as a Canadian than as a Pakistani Canadian,” Saddiqui said. “So that’s the difference.”
Siddiqui and Hashmi are two of thousands of Saskatchewanians who speak a mother tongue that is not one of Canada’s official languages.
In the 2021 census, 81.7 per cent of people living in Saskatchewan reported English as their mother tongue. Just over one per cent reported French and almost two per cent reported an Indigenous language as their primary language at birth.
The rest of the population, about 15 per cent, reported other mother tongues. Data shows Tagalog is the most prevalent of those languages, followed by Mandarin, Arabic, Gujarati, Punjabi and Urdu.
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), estimates that there are 8,324 languages, spoken or signed, around the world, with about 7,000 of them still in use. But the organization says linguistic diversity is under threat, with many languages disappearing.
The organization has celebrated International Mother Tongue Language Day for 25 years to promote the importance of cultural and linguistic diversity.
Native languages are disappearing. That’s why these Regina families insist on having their kids speak and learn in their mother tongue at home.
Uzma Nawaid also knows how important it is to speak her mother tongue at home. The Regina woman is originally from Pakistan. She lives with her husband and two young children, along with her own mother, who only speaks Urdu.
“I came home one day and the children knew something, and they were telling me about it. I was like, ‘How did you learn about it?’ And then they were like, ‘Nani told me about it,'” Nawaid said.
The language has also helped the children connect to the history of their family and their culture.
“They learned so many things that I learned when I was young,” she said. “I feel so proud about that, that they are learning. And it’s all because they know Urdu. Because my [mother] doesn’t know English, and they know Urdu. So it’s great, and it’s very important for me.”
Research shows speaking and learning in one’s mother tongue has many benefits. It helps develop a personal and cultural identity, and helps strengthen family bonds by closing linguistic gaps. It also brings better overall literacy skills and gives children a strong basis for learning additional languages.
Hameeda Bagum says being able to communicate with her grandchildren helps them to understand her wisdom as an elder.
“If we speak Urdu at home, they will learn an additional language which will be beneficial. It will also make it easier for them to communicate with us,” Bagum said through an interpreter.
Bagum’s son-in-law Syed Fasih agrees. He is originally from Pakistan and his first language is Urdu. He says he considers Urdu his children’s first language as well.
Bagum believes learning extra languages will boost a person’s confidence and add to their skillset. Research supports her view, and shows that people who speak more than one language have improved comprehension and critical thinking skills, and better job prospects in the future.
That confidence includes a sense of belonging, according to Mahreen Siddiqui.
“Language by itself, I think it’s a culture. When you speak something, you are representing yourself to belong to some culture, right?” she said.
Zainab Kamboh runs a restaurant in Regina. The mother-of-one speaks Punjabi at home and with the children.
“English is there of course, but I also speak Urdu and Punjabi,” she said through an interpreter.
Her daughter, Liaba Janjua, is a Grade 10 student at Luther College High School in Regina.
Her classes are in English, but she is grateful to be able to speak Urdu and understand some Punjabi as well.
“It makes it better when you know more languages, especially that of your mother tongue, to connect with your community and to be able to connect with family members that may not know the language, or may not be as fluent in it,” she said.
“It’s very important in terms of connecting and getting along with people.”
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