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Do you think Toronto's high linguistic diversity will continue for a long time?

Spanish is the second most prevalent language in most of the 50 states (exceptions are Louisiana, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine (French), both Dakotas (German), and Hawaii (Tagalog)). Spanish is also the second most prevalent language in the District of Columbia (though uncoloured).

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Again, I think "critical mass" is the issue- isolated immigrants exposed to a dominant culture will be heavily pressured to assimilate quickly (have to fit in to survive), but when you have enough people speaking a certain language and participating in a certain culture, this assimilation/intergration will be far slower.

Culture/demographics, economics and government policy also play a big part in this, but exposure and integration to the main culture is what keeps situations like the US-Mexico borderlands and European periphery slums from occurring. When either the dominant or secondary cultures reject one or the other, then you have a problem.

I fully agree with this. I think in real terms Toronto's high linguistic diversity diminishing over time is a positive thing, which currently I don't believe to be the case in the foreseeable future with Toronto's status as an immigrant magnet staying strong.

Going by the European Periphery slums example (such as Turkish or Greek pockets in German cities present since the 60s), which do account for quite a strong 'linguistic diversity', having large portions of people speaking own language at home is negative indicator. It's a trend you don't want to persist.
 

Surprising that German has managed to retain popularity over such a wide geographic area, despite probably there being very few first-generation immigrants from Germany there anymore, and suppression during the first World War. There must be quite a number of people, in probably rural places, still passing the language on between generations for it to still survive as 2nd non-English language in popularity in so many states.

Here's Canada. The most common second language.
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The most common non-official one (I expected Ukrainian to have been one of them on the prairies, but apparently not).
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I wonder if Toronto's linguistic diversity (or at least percentage of people speaking a non-English language) is higher now than any other time in its history. I know there are some cities like those in the Midwest, or plains in the US whose linguistic diversity was likely higher in the past, but stopped being immigration gateways and so declined. New York city's diversity was likely continually high for a long time and continues to be.
 
Surprising that German has managed to retain popularity over such a wide geographic area, despite probably there being very few first-generation immigrants from Germany there anymore, and suppression during the first World War. There must be quite a number of people, in probably rural places, still passing the language on between generations for it to still survive as 2nd non-English language in popularity in so many states.

I wouldn't read too much into the fact that German is the third most common spoken language in say, Alabama or Tennessee. The percentage speaking a language other than English is very low in those states.

There is a good number of German speakers in the Dakotas still (isolated rural communities where Germans from Russia settled more than a century ago).
 
The Chinese languages are the third-most spoken language in New York state (most speakers of the Chinese languages in New York State live in New York City and the surrounding areas, with some in Buffalo (though most speakers of the Chinese languages in Buffalo are from the Greater Toronto Area or from New York City and its surrounding area)), but the second-most in a few Canadian provinces.

Spanish is not the second- or even the third-most spoken language in any Canadian province (though Toronto and Montreal do have well-defined Latino neighbourhoods (Bloor and Dufferin, as well as Kensington Market, have a large number of Latino businesses); Toronto has more Spanish speakers than French speakers).
 
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The Chinese languages are the third-most spoken language in New York state (most speakers of the Chinese languages in New York State live in New York City and the surrounding areas, with some in Buffalo (though most speakers of the Chinese languages in Buffalo are from the Greater Toronto Area or from New York City and its surrounding area)), but the second-most in a few Canadian provinces.

Spanish is not the second- or even the third-most spoken language in any Canadian province (though Toronto and Montreal do have well-defined Latino neighbourhoods (Bloor and Dufferin, as well as Kensington Market, have a large number of Latino businesses); Toronto has more Spanish speakers than French speakers).

Interesting to see which languages cross the borders or are significantly distributed evenly on both sides, and which ones don't.

As you mention, the Chinese and Spanish speakers do not seem to be evenly split on both sides of the border (eg. the Spanish of Hispanic communities in states bordering Canada does not seem well connected at all to the Latino communities of the major Canadian cities, and Greater Toronto or Vancouver's Chinese community doesn't seem to spill into upstate New York or Seattle). I wonder if this is because post 1960s immigrants, and later waves of immigrant more broadly, were more likely to settle in big cities on either side of the border and so fewer would have settled in smaller towns in between. However, the German spoken in the Dakotas and Manitoba/Saskatchewan seem to be more continuous on both sides, and the French of Quebec/Acadia seems continuous with New England (I don't know if the French in the Mid-Atlantic or West Virgnia has any connection to it or to Cajun French at all; I know most other really old Francophone US communities are nearly gone, such as the nearly extinct Missouri French dialect).
 
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Maybe it's just me but I've noticed too, that language, as opposed to ancestral heritage, is less tied to ethnic identity in the US than Canada, however.
For example, I've heard Americans say "I'm French-Canadian" to mean "my ancestors were French-Canadians", even if they themselves don't speak French, while Canadians will rarely claim an identity associated with Francophones if they are monolingual English-speakers.

This is somewhat noticeable in the way that Anglo vs. Hispanic became used as colloquial terms in some American states -- they originally simply meant English-speaker vs. Spanish speaker, but eventually they morphed into describing ancestry/ethnic terms divorced from any linguistic content.
 
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Interesting to see which languages cross the borders or are significantly distributed evenly on both sides, and which ones don't.

As you mention, the Chinese and Spanish speakers do not seem to be evenly split on both sides of the border (eg. the Spanish of Hispanic communities in states bordering Canada does not seem well connected at all to the Latino communities of the major Canadian cities, and Greater Toronto or Vancouver's Chinese community doesn't seem to spill into upstate New York or Seattle). I wonder if this is because post 1960s immigrants, and later waves of immigrant more broadly, were more likely to settle in big cities on either side of the border and so fewer would have settled in smaller towns in between. However, the German spoken in the Dakotas and Manitoba/Saskatchewan seem to be more continuous on both sides, and the French of Quebec/Acadia seems continuous with New England (I don't know if the French in the Mid-Atlantic or West Virgnia has any connection to it or to Cajun French at all; I know most other really old Francophone US communities are nearly gone, such as the nearly extinct Missouri French dialect).

At this point, there are likely more Toronto families with relatives in NYC than in Western New York.
 
I don't see why it wouldn't be a trend that continues. One of the best parts of Toronto is it's diversity of people and this i known around the world so more people keep coming. It is a bit of a cycle. I hope it continues, I like walking down the street and hearing 20 different languages, so much more refreshing than in other countries I have lived where it was so monocultural, all you heard was 1 or 2 languages.
 

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