Canada is a very large country. It is the second largest country in the world. By contrast it has a very small population. There are only about 29 million people there. Most Canadians are of British or French origin(后裔), and French is an official language of Canada as well as English. About 45% of the people are of British origin, that is, they or their parents or grandparents, etc, come from Britain. Nearly 30% are of French origin. Most of the French­Canadians live in the province of Quebec.

Over the years, people have come to live in Canada from many countries in the world. They are from Europe and also from China, besides other Asian countries.

However, Canada was not an empty country before the Europeans began to arrive. Canadian Indians lived along the coast, by the rivers and lakes and in forests. Today, there are only about 350，000 Indians in the whole country, with their own languages. In the far north live the Inuit. There are only 27，000 Canadian­Inuit. Their life is hard in such a difficult climate.

Everywhere in the world there are different ways of behaving. When we meet someone, everything we say and do expresses our cultural background. So if you want to get on with someone from another culture, it helps to understand something about these differences.

Even how we stand depends on our culture. English people talk to each other at an average(平均) distance of 130cm, while Italians chat at an average distance of 80cm. So Italians can think that English people are unfriendly because they stand too far away! And English people can think that Italians are too close.

Touching is also cultural. The French touch much more than Americans. A French couple may touch 100 times in half an hour while an American couple may only touch twice! And French teenagers touch each other much more than American teens.

Canada                         Indonesia                      France