This will always be a requirement, and it makes sense. Canada is an English/French country, and those are the official languages. We are Afrikaans and English, and since we knew that we will be sending in proof we started chatting in English and we also made our FB posts etc. in English for the past two years before we applied. Worked out perfectly for us. We realized that we are moving to a country, through our own will, that is English - as such, we have started to communicate in English in our daily lives as well. It will just make your life easier when you get to Canada. Just my 10 cents.