Toronto's multiculturalism left one British writer slightly confused about the city's curiosity for heritage. While visiting Toronto, Daniel Rouse met people from all over--Croatia, Ireland--and eventually began to wonder if Toronto lacked pride in its own Canadian identity.
However, he reports that he soon realized much of this stems from an honest place and after speaking with local residents and shop owners, a great story of our city unfolded. He describes his experience in article that appeared in the Telegraph.
He speaks with Jim Dai, originally from Shanghai, who has owned a small Portuguese wholesaling shop in Little Portugal for the last 10 years. Dai talks about learning English while working in a restaurant, and later picked up Portuguese simply by interacting with his suppliers and customers.
"Because I'm talking to the Portuguese people every day, maybe I just pick up one word; and the next day, the same word again – repeat, repeat, repeat, and then you remember," Dai tells Rouse.
"Dai was keen to stress that he’s not alone in this. There are shop owners in the other areas of Toronto -- like Little Italy, Little India or Greek Town -- who are speaking the language of the local immigrants," Rouse writes.
Rouse writes of how people adopt many different cultures in Toronto, a contrast to his life as "a mere unilingual."
Read the full story
here.
Original source: The Telegraph