Multilingualism 'a gift' for this Montreal family

Kimchi, chopsticks, Korean, French and English. It's justa typical dinner time at the Langevin Kim familyhome in Verdun.

At the table, little Jiho Langevin Kim can count to five in Korean, but in French, his three-year-old brain churning, he points to his fingers and says"comme a, comme a, comme a."

Jiho and his five-year-old brother Taeho are bilingual, speaking French with their mum and at daycare, and Korean with their dad. Depending on who you ask, they are trilingual, partially understanding what their parents say to each other in English.

Andranne Langevin is a francophone Quebecer. Her partner, Jung Yoon Kim, is originally from South Korea.

Legault comment sparks heated debate

Quebec Premier Franois Legault says the language spoken at home is one indicator of the state of French in Quebec, intimating that fewer and fewer Quebecers are speaking French with their families.

The latest data on language from the 2021 Statistics Canada census won't be released until August, but what languages are Quebecers speaking at home?

According to the 2016 census, just over 6.3 million people in the province called French their mother tongue, but answers are more nuanced when it comes to language spoken at home. About 5.7 million Quebecers noted they only ever spoke French at home.

WATCH| CBC's Sarah Leavitt meets the Langevin Kim family to talk language:

This Montreal family uses three languages around the dinner table

2 years ago

Duration 1:43

Kimchi, chopsticks, Korean, French and English. It's just a typical dinner with the Langevin Kim family in Verdun.