Punjabi most commonly spoken native language among UK pupils

[Blackwater]

One million students in Britain have English as their second language while Punjabi is the most commonly spoken language among those whose first language is not English, according to latest official figures.

More than one million children speak English as a second language as a record one in six pupils at primary schools and one in eight at secondary don't speak the language at home.

The number of non-native speakers topped one million for the first time, rising from 957,490 last year, the Mail Online reported citing the figures released as part of an official census of schools conducted in January.

Besides Punjabi, other widely-spoken native languages are Bengali, Gujarati, Urdu, Somali, Polish, Arabic, Portuguese, Turkish and Tamil.

A separate analysis released earlier this year showed how children who speak English as their first language are now a minority in more than 1,600 English schools.

The number of schools where fewer than half of children are native speakers has virtually doubled in 15 years. Pupils with English as their main language now form a minority in one in 13 schools up from one in 25 in 1997.

General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) results published earlier this year showed how pupils whose first language is not English are closing the attainment gap with English-speaking youngsters, the Mail reported.

"English language skills are vitally important to ensure all individuals and communities can fully integrate into society.

We provide schools with funding and teaching materials to help them support children with English as an additional language right through to secondary education," a Department for Education spokesman said while commenting on the figure



Punjabi most commonly spoken native language among UK pupils - Indian Express

 

[Blackwater]

Indian population booms in Australia


Latest official census data in Australia has found a boom in Indian population especially with number of Punjabi speaking people rising by over 200 per cent.

Australian Bureau of Statistics today released the snapshot of the country from information collected in the census on August 9 last year.

The census is conducted every five years to gather information on populations for electoral purposes and guide government spending on new infrastructure, community services and facilities such as schools, hospitals and roads.

This is the 16th census taken in Australia over the past 100 years with about 9.8 million households surveyed on August 9 last year.

The data revealed Australia's population rose to 21,507,719, up almost two million - or more than 8 per cent - in the past five years, and the median age of the growing population rose from 37 in 2006 to 38 when the census was counted last year.

The United Kingdom stood as the leading country of birth for the overseas-born population at 20.8 per cent and was followed by New Zealand (9.1 per cent), China (6.0 per cent) and India (5.6 per cent).

Of the 21.5 million, 24.6 per cent of them were born overseas, up from 22.2 per cent in 2006, while 43.1 per cent of people had at least one parent who migrated here.

While the UK was still the leading country of birth, New Zealand, China and India followed closely behind, the data said adding Hinduism experienced largest proportional growth of the three most common non-Christian religious affiliations.


Indian population booms in Australia - Indian Express

 

[Tronic]

Punjabis taking over the world!

 

[Singh]

^^ and Biharis taking over Punjab

 

[BangersAndMash]

What portion of Punjabis are Sikhs, Hindus and Muslims? (Don't include pakis)

In the UK, if you ask a Sikh where he is from, most will say Punjab, only a small number will say they are from India!

Here's a gem and a true story! Our plumber (heating engineer) is a Sikh (wears a turban), he has an awesome one liner on his business card!

"You have tried the cowboys, now try the Indians"

(We call bad construction workers over here "cowboys", you know the kind, lazy, shoddy workmanship, rip you off, etc, etc)

 

[BangersAndMash]

Punjabi and Tamil are awesome sounding languages, I don't understand a word, but like the way they sound!

 

[BangersAndMash]

 

[Ray]

But this is a good example of those who try to learn English!

 

[Ray]

But this is the best!

 

[Singh]

What portion of Punjabis are Sikhs, Hindus and Muslims? (Don't include pakis)

In the UK, if you ask a Sikh where he is from, most will say Punjab, only a small number will say they are from India!

Here's a gem and a true story! Our plumber (heating engineer) is a Sikh (wears a turban), he has an awesome one liner on his business card!

"You have tried the cowboys, now try the Indians"

(We call bad construction workers over here "cowboys", you know the kind, lazy, shoddy workmanship, rip you off, etc, etc)

There are more Hindu Punjabis than Sikh Punjabis but among Punjabi speakers Sikhs are in a majority, got it ?
And today turbaned Sikhs are in a minority.

 

[Tronic]

There are more Hindu Punjabis than Sikh Punjabis but among Punjabi speakers Sikhs are in a majority, got it ?

Singh, how does that make sense?

Muslims are the largest group in the Punjab region, than the Sikhs, and than the Hindus.

If you are including Haryanvis, and the Pahari people, they actually do not consider themselves Punjabi nor do they speak the language. Ofcourse, with the exception of the Bagris of Northern Rajasthan and Haryana, who are a Punjabi speaking community.

 

[Blackwater]

There are more Hindu Punjabis than Sikh Punjabis but among Punjabi speakers Sikhs are in a majority, got it ?
And today turbaned Sikhs are in a minority.

becoz 90% turbaned sikhs in UK choose to be clean shaven. doesn't mean they r not sikhs..

 

[Ray]

Sikh are very religious but then they are also very modern and like to keep up with the times.

There are Sikh women who are BBC reporters and they speak in very correct English accents.