Editing Alberta (section)

=== Language ===
{{Main|Demographics of Alberta#Languages}}
As of the [[2021 Canadian census|2021 Canadian Census]], the ten most spoken languages in the province included English (4,109,720 or 98.37%), French (260,415 or 6.23%), Tagalog (172,625 or 4.13%), Punjabi (126,385 or 3.03%), Spanish (116,070 or 2.78%), Hindi (94,015 or 2.25%), Mandarin (82,095 or 1.97%), Arabic (76,760 or 1.84%), Cantonese (74,960 or 1.79%), and German (65,370 or 1.56%).<ref name="language2021">{{Cite web |date=August 17, 2022 |title=Census Profile, 2021 Census of Population Profile table Alberta [Province] |url=https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2021/dp-pd/prof/details/page.cfm?LANG=E&GENDERlist=1,2,3&STATISTIClist=1&DGUIDlist=2021A000248&HEADERlist=,15,13,18,12,16,14,17&SearchText=Alberta |access-date=August 17, 2022 |publisher=[[Statistics Canada]] |archive-date=August 17, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220817225147/https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2021/dp-pd/prof/details/page.cfm?LANG=E&GENDERlist=1,2,3&STATISTIClist=1&DGUIDlist=2021A000248&HEADERlist=,15,13,18,12,16,14,17&SearchText=Alberta |url-status=live }}</ref> The question on knowledge of languages allows for multiple responses.

As of the 2016 census, English is the most common mother tongue, with 2,991,485 native speakers.<ref name=":0" /> This is followed by [[Tagalog language|Tagalog]], with 99,035 speakers, German, with 80,050 speakers, French, with 72,150 native speakers, and [[Punjabi language|Punjabi]], with 68,695 speakers.<ref name=":0" />

The 2006 census found that English, with 2,576,670 native speakers, was the most common mother tongue of Albertans, representing 79.99% of the population. The next most common mother tongues were Chinese with 97,275 native speakers (3.02%), followed by German with 84,505 native speakers (2.62%) and French with 61,225 (1.90%).<ref name="Detailed Mother Tongue Alberta">{{cite web |url=http://www12.statcan.ca/census-recensement/2006/dp-pd/tbt/Rp-eng.cfm?LANG=E&APATH=3&DETAIL=0&DIM=0&FL=A&FREE=0&GC=0&GID=838045&GK=0&GRP=1&PID=89201&PRID=0&PTYPE=88971,97154&S=0&SHOWALL=0&SUB=0&Temporal=2006&THEME=70&VID=0&VNAMEE=&VNAMEF= |title=Detailed Mother Tongue (186), Knowledge of Official Languages (5), Age Groups (17A) and Sex (3) for the Population of Canada, Provinces, Territories, Census Metropolitan Areas and Census Agglomerations, 2001 and 2006 Censuses – 20% Sample Data |publisher=Statistics Canada |access-date=August 7, 2009 |archive-date=January 14, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120114170646/http://www12.statcan.ca/census-recensement/2006/dp-pd/tbt/Rp-eng.cfm?LANG=E&APATH=3&DETAIL=0&DIM=0&FL=A&FREE=0&GC=0&GID=838045&GK=0&GRP=1&PID=89201&PRID=0&PTYPE=88971,97154&S=0&SHOWALL=0&SUB=0&Temporal=2006&THEME=70&VID=0&VNAMEE=&VNAMEF= |url-status=dead }}</ref> Other mother tongues include: [[Punjabi language|Punjabi]], with 36,320 native speakers (1.13%); [[Tagalog language|Tagalog]], with 29,740 (0.92%); [[Ukrainian language|Ukrainian]], with 29,455 (0.91%); Spanish, with 29,125 (0.90%); [[Polish language|Polish]], with 21,990 (0.68%); [[Arabic]], with 20,495 (0.64%); [[Dutch language|Dutch]], with 19,980 (0.62%); and [[Vietnamese language|Vietnamese]], with 19,350 (0.60%). The most common aboriginal language is [[Cree language|Cree]] 17,215 (0.53%). Other common mother tongues include Italian with 13,095 speakers (0.41%); [[Urdu]] with 11,275 (0.35%); and [[Korean language|Korean]] with 10,845 (0.33%); then [[Hindi]] 8,985 (0.28%); [[Persian language|Persian]] 7,700 (0.24%); [[Portuguese language|Portuguese]] 7,205 (0.22%); and [[Hungarian language|Hungarian]] 6,770 (0.21%).

According to Statistics Canada, Alberta is home to the second-highest proportion (2%) of [[Geographical distribution of French speakers|Francophones]] in western Canada (after [[Manitoba]]). Despite this, relatively few Albertans claim French as their mother tongue. Many of [[Franco-Albertans|Alberta's French-speaking residents]] live in the central and northwestern regions of the province, after migration from other areas of Canada or descending from Métis.