Canadians speak 175.6 words per minute but these cities have the fastest and slowest talkers
Do you speak too fast or too slow? A new study by Preply shows where the fastest and slowest talkers live in Canada.
Preply, an online language learning marketplace, sought to determine how fast or slow Canadians speak. And the results might surprise you.
To conduct its research, Preply looked into YouTube data to “analyze speech rates.” It also analyzed transcripts of videos from local news stations and podcasts. Results found that, on average, Canadians spoke at a rate of 175.6 words per minute.
You’d think that for such a big and busy city, people in Toronto would have the fastest speech rate. However, the study shows that Torontonians seem to take their time to get their point across as they have the slowest speech rate compared to all Canadian cities, with an average of 149.14 words per minute.
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Brampton, another Ontario city, also has slow talkers, with an average of 153 words per minute, closely followed by Mississauga with 168 words per minute. The city with the fourth-slowest talkers is Vancouver, where the average number of words per minute is 170.
Preply
If you’re new to Edmonton, you might find yourself struggling to keep up because Edmontonians are the fastest-speaking Canadians, with an average speech rate of 210.54 words per minute. So how fast is fast?
The study analyzed sports podcasts Edmonton Elks and Edmonton Sports Talk and found that the Edmonton Elks video “came out on top as the fastest, with the people in the video speaking 265.5 WPM.”
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It’s certainly in keeping with the fact that compared to other Canadian provinces, Alberta has the fastest average speech rate at 196 words per minute.
Preply
Ottawa came in second with an average of 191 words per minute, while Winnipeg had an average of 189.
The study states that English speakers in Canada “utilize a mix of Canadian and Standard Canadian English, with a whopping eight different dialects, too.” But what about French speakers?
Preply
Anyone would assume that a Quebec city would hold the title for fastest French speakers; however, Edmonton is also home to the fastest French-speaking citizens, with an average of 211 words per minute.
“Overall, it is clear that there are many influential factors when it comes to how quickly or slowly somebody speaks,” states the Preply study. “A recent article highlighted that, no matter where you are from, talking about something that makes you excited can cause you to speak faster to convey that.”
Do you live in a province with fast or slow talkers? Let us know in the comments.