Greek in Canada is dying out

In the excerpt, the death of Canadian Greek is predicted over the next twenty years, as the second generation immigrants does not encourage their children to attend Greek schools or use Greek at home.


RES.: Do you think the maintenance of the Greek language today in Montreal is very important to us?
AN.: For us, for the elderly people, that’s the way it is. Our children see it differently. Unfortunately. But you will tell me now for how many years we, the elderly, will live. That is why I would like the Greek language to be kept abroad, because when the elderly die, it will die out completely. Few... very few children, as far as I know at the age of my children, send their children to the Greek school. And in spite of this, they speak English at home. When my children were young, their father and I forbade them to speak any language other than Greek at home. So, they learnt Greek fluently. But unfortunately today, things are different. I estimate that in 20-25 years from now you will not hear a Greek word abroad. At least here. In Ontario, it’s even worse. There, they speak Greek neither at home nor in the shops.