You know when it feels like the person you’re talking to won’t get to the point? Perhaps it feels like they’re moving in slow motion, or just taking too long to get to the punchline. Well, it looks like people in Toronto do speak a little slower than those in other major Canadian cities.
A new study has ranked Toronto the number one slowest talking city in Canada, and they have the numbers to prove it.
Preply, an online platform connecting people with language tutors, analyzed data from the ten most populated cities in Canada. The company looked at transcripts of YouTube videos from local news stations and podcasts to find the average words said per minute in each city.
The analysis found the average speech rate among Canadians is 175.6 words/minute. But get this, Toronto has a speech rate of 149.14 words per minute.
Other GTA cities did not score much higher. In Brampton, the average rate was 153 words/minute, while Mississauga saw an average of 168 words/minute.
At the top of the list, looking westward, Edmonton, Alberta, has the fastest speech rate at 210.54 words/minute.
The cities ranked from the fastest rate of speech to the slowest are as follows:
- Edmonton
- Ottawa
- Winnipeg
- Calgary
- Hamilton
- Montreal
- Vancouver
- Mississauga
- Brampton
- Toronto
According to Preply experts, there is nothing wrong with taking it slow. They say that speech rates can be for different reasons, including linguistic, cultural, and environmental factors.
“Some cultures value rapid communication, while others may prioritize clarity and deliberation in speech. The pace of life in a city can impact speech rate,” Preply language expert Sylvia Johnson said in a statement. ”In fast-paced urban environments, people may speak more quickly to keep up with the hustle and bustle, whereas in quieter or more relaxed cities, speech may be slower.”
Additionally, experts considered that topics of conversation can also impact how quickly people speak. For example, when discussing something exciting people tend to speak quicker. Meantime, heavier conversations tend to be slower.
“Due to this, the podcast, radio show and news report subjects that we analyzed, such as real estate, religion, lifestyle, government schemes and more, all had an impact on how quickly the guests were speaking,” the study’s conclusion reads.
METHODOLOGY
To find the slowest and fastest-speaking cities, Preply used a seed list of the ten cities in Canada with the largest populations and analyzed YouTube data from each location to find average speech rates. This includes transcripts of content posted by local news stations and podcasts, the team was able to calculate the average words said per minute for each city.
