Congratulations Gaétan Simard from Québec, who won the $1,000 prize!
The registration period for the 2019 spelling challenge is now over.
Click on the word or group of words that is correctly written in each of the 10 pairs in bold letters, for a chance to win $1,000!
The spelling challenge is prepared annually by the Language Portal of Canada team. (The Language Portal is an initiative of the Translation Bureau at Public Services and Procurement Canada.)
Come back in March 2020 to try the next spelling challenge!
Here are the answers to the spelling challenge:
Canadian regionalisms
The year 2019 is the 50th
anniversery / anniversary of the Official Languages Act. English, one of Canada’s two official languages, has evolved
grately / greatly over the
centuries / senturies. It has borrowed many words, like “rapids” and “toque” from French or “toboggan” and “igloo” from Indigenous languages.
Different communities have also developed different words for the same idea. For
instance / instants, people in the Prairies spend weekends at the cabin, and Ontarians at the cottage,
while / wile Quebeckers head to the chalet and Cape Bretoners to the bungalow!
The
mane / main reason for these differences is the presence of so many language groups within our
borders / boarders. Indigenous peoples have inhabited North America since time
immemorial / immemmorial. The French settled in Canada in the 1600s. Thousands of Irish and Scots
emmigrated / emigrated to the New World in the 1800s. And the 20th century saw a
tied / tide of newcomers from many nations.
Contact with French and other languages has thus enriched Canadian English.
Participation Form
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