An incredible 153 languages are
spoken in Manchester, making it the most diverse city in Europe and
second only behind New York in the world, a study has found.
Researchers
from the University of Manchester discovered languages spoken in the
city include Chitrali from northern Pakistan, Konkani from western
India, Dagaare from Ghana, and Uyghur from north-western China.
Professor Yaron Matras, of the
university's Multilingual Manchester project, thinks the true figure
could be higher and is likely to grow even further.
'Manchester's
language diversity is higher than many countries," he said on the
university's website. 'It is very likely to be top of the list in Europe. As immigration and the arrival of overseas students to the city continues, it's fair to say that this already large list is set to grow.'
With a population of half a million, Manchester is a fraction of the size of London, which has some 8 million inhabitants and also scores highly in terms of linguistic diversity.
The study found about two-thirds of Mancunian children are bilingual, a 'huge' figure according to Prof Matras.
An increasingly large number of Europeans are attracted to the city.
Manchester is famous for its football teams,
United and City, managed by Sir Alex Ferguson (left) and Roberto Mancini
(right) respectively, but now has a new claim to fame
Manchester is also known for producing stars like former Oasis frontman Liam Gallagher
'Melbourne, for example, is famous for its many languages but as it tends to have very established communities it will be less diverse than Manchester.'
The findings came as this week's census revealed the foreign-born population of England and Wales increased from 4.6 million in 2001 to 7.5 million in 2011.
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