From immersion classes to social gatherings and family talks, city residents are striving to keep their languages alive.

Information released Wednesday from the 2011 census shows English is by far the dominant mother tongue here, unchanged from the last census in 2006.

English was identified as the first language of 89 per cent of people in the city. French, the country's other official language, was the mother tongue of just 1.3 per cent — roughly the same number as Punjabi, Italian and German.

Heidi Colasanti, whose first language is German, was surprised to hear more than a thousand people, or 1.3 per cent of the city's population, speak German as a first language. It is tied with French as the third most common mother tongue here, following English, and Punjabi.

Fourth is Italian, at 1.2 per cent.

Mother tongue is defined by Statistics Canada as the first language learned at home during childhood and still understood.

Colasanti (her last name is Italian) is a member of the Kamloops Friends of German Language Society, with about 40 members.

"It's very hard to get a hold of Germans," she said. "Unfortunately our numbers seem to dwindle. They're all getting older and the younger generation doesn't seem interested."

In addition to meetings once a month to converse in German, German-speakers also come together to sing as a choir.

There is no ability to learn German for children until they are in high school.

Punjabi is thriving in Kamloops, thanks to waves of Sikh immigrants who have come to Canada for decades. Two hundred and sixty people reported in the 2011 census they regularly speak it at home.

Rupe Mahal, 38, said the Cambridge Street Sikh temple offered Punjabi classes when she was a child, something no longer done. Her parents came here from India so the language was used in her childhood home.

Mahal said strives to teach her own three young children.

"If you didn't, you'd always get scrutinized by the older people," she laughed.

But Mahal said she understands the importance of teaching her children.

"I want them to know their roots, to get the language like I do. It's a means of communication with their grandparents."

While families and societies are making efforts to keep foreign languages thriving amid a sea of English, the situation is dire for the aboriginal language used in much of B.C.'s southwest Interior.

B.C. is home to half of Canada's native languages and all are in danger of vanishing.

Robert Matthew, principal of Chief Atahm school on Adams Lake Indian Reserve, said Shuswap is one of those endangered languages, spoken fluently by few — most of them elders now in their 70s.

"With Facebook, texting or movies, the age of information is in English," Matthew said, adding it is more difficult now for his young students to stay immersed in Shuswap than it was a two decades ago when the school opened.

Chief Atahm puts children into Shuswap immersion from kindergarten to Grade 3, introducing English into the curriculum in grades 4-7. It has about 50-60 students.

"Unless we have another generation becoming fluent, it's endangered," Matthew said.

At Little Fawn Nursery on the Tk'emlups Indian Band reserve, children aged three and four are immersed in the Shuswap language each morning from 8:30-11 a.m.

"Everything is in the language," said administrator Jessica Arnouse, who learned Shuswap while at Simon Fraser University.

"As soon as students arrive, whether by parents or bus, our teacher starts with the calendar in the language. They do days of the week; they do songs."

Arnouse said preschoolers in the program have an advantage when they enter Sk'lep School of Excellence, which is not an immersion school but teaches Shuswap as a second language.

French is offered in Kamloops as a first language for education as well as in immersion classes at two elementary schools and one high school. Other languages taught at high school include German, Spanish and Japanese.

While the method of learning languages differs depending on the language and culture, doing it at home remains the most effective method.

Mahal said despite her determination, it's easy to lapse into English at home.

"I'm working on my five-year-old. You have to remind yourself to say words in your own language as well."