[Saskanna]

TattoodGirl TattoodGirl:

kenmore kenmore:

A little racist and bias are we there Zipperfish? It is those who can't that criticize the most.. where you turned down for a government job?

Zip? Racist????

French Canadians are not a "race." Never have been, never will be.

[travior]

At least you have an official language and you only have to deal with two! In our fore-fathers' desire of not offending anyone, we are stuck with having to cater to everyone. Went to Walmart the other day and it felt like I was the only one that wasn't speaking Spanish.

Heureusement, il existe des outils linguistiques de Google!
Afortunadamente, hay herramientas de idioma de Google!
Zum Glück gibt es Google Sprach-Tools!
幸好，有谷歌的語言工具！

Hope I didn't leave anyone out

Since Canada DOES have two official languages, if a company or government office requires it, I guess you can't complain too much. Guess I need to take a French refresher course before I move, eh?

I did find it amusing that once you enter Saskatchewan, there are no French road signs except in provencial or federal parks.

[Bodah]

Saskanna Saskanna:

I believe you are right. Is McGuinty going to give in to the pressure? You have my vote when you say, "keep those kooky language laws in Quebec." What kind of government tells people what language they can speak? Let the marketplace decide.

McGunity appointed a french language in Ombudsman in Queens park to ensure that 1% of the population of Ontario don't have their language rights violated.

Sweet job huh, paid over 100K a year to do fuck all.

So maybe its on its way.

[Tman1]

kenmore kenmore:

OldChum OldChum:

I do not like the price tagg it puts on all of us Quebec wants it then let them pay .

Actually M.Diefenbaker wanted it.. and there are two official languages so why shouldn't Canadians be able to speak both? Vive le Québec!, vive la bilingualism!
What about outside of Québec? francophones in Ontario, Manitoba, New Brunswick and all the other provinces?

There are two official languages based on the foundation of this country and to keep whining Quebecers (including you) in this country. Canada is a majority english speaking nation and always will be. I, and many people will not and ever speak french and will not be forced to, why? Because there is no need due to population distribution in this country according to language and a little something called 'freedom'. Quite frankly the whole bilingualism crap is all elitist and benefits, like others have already said, a small percentage of the population yet you want all Canadians to speak french.....great logic. Good thing it will never come to fruition.

[Tman1]

kenmore kenmore:

Absolutely the internal working of the federal government and each provincial government should be bilingual.... you English unilingual guys are too much.. learn the other official language then you can qualify for a government job and stop whining!

Let me get this straight. You want a majority speaking english province govt, which more than likely's first language isn't french, to be bilingual, to what purpose? How and why would that work out exactly????? To appease 0.00003 percent of the population? Again, great logic.

As soon as Quebec stops whining, you should give some tips on how you controlled your inferiority complex.

[Tman1]

Bodah Bodah:

Actually the Norse(Scandanavian) where the first to set foot on North America if you want to get all historic on us. Followed by Christopher Columbus.

Might want to check your facts before acting high and mighty to somebody else on certain matters as Columbus didn't discover N.America or set foot on it....

[Goober_McGee]

I don't see a problem with Canada being bilingual, at all. It would provide the grounds for a fully unified country as well as a truly pan-Canadian culture. Also the French in Quebec (despite what some people may tell you) are not the only Francophones in Canada, or North America for that matter, and as one of the founding cultures with which nearly every native Canadian (not First Nations, like bazillion generation Canadian) can draw ancestry to, why shouldn't the language be promoted and accepted in the predominately English speaking regions of the country?


That being said, the same should apply to English in Quebec.

Unfortunately this wont happen at all because the provinces control education and wont implement any policy of this kind, and thus the status quo of the French-English divide will just continue.

[kenmore]

EdwardRI EdwardRI:

I know English, German, Norwegian, Danish, Swedish, Icelandic, and I'm working on Scottish Gaelic. I've had use for each of these languages more than I've had for French, so I won't learn French.

Seems rather silly that it's an official language.

And my question to you is... where did you "have to use them" ? not in Canada where the two OFFICIAL languages are french and english.. .. sounds like you would like to live in Europe? planes leave every hour!

[kenmore]

Tman1 Tman1:

kenmore kenmore:

Absolutely the internal working of the federal government and each provincial government should be bilingual.... you English unilingual guys are too much.. learn the other official language then you can qualify for a government job and stop whining!

Let me get this straight. You want a majority speaking english province govt, which more than likely's first language isn't french, to be bilingual, to what purpose? How and why would that work out exactly????? To appease 0.00003 percent of the population? Again, great logic.

As soon as Quebec stops whining, you should give some tips on how you controlled your inferiority complex.

Are you arrogant enough to discount the thousands of french speaking people who live in Ontario, and other provinces throughout Canada?? Obviously, governments before this one and including this one, agree that the two official languages be entrenched in the constitution. I am currently living in Kingston Ontario and this city has just declared itself bi-lingual. The fact of the matter is people who speak french or english in this country have the right to governmental service in either language.
And yes even in Québec.

[kenmore]

And why do you always say Québec whines? They don't... We just have to push for our rights.. and that includes language. If they had dealt with the bi-lingual issue in the 50s or 60s .. we wouldn't have had a bill 101 law.

[Benn]

EdwardRI EdwardRI:

French military victories!

Ed you forgot to tell people to type that phrase into Google Search and then Hit "I'm feeling Lucky" Give it a try!

[MacDonaill]

EdwardRI EdwardRI:

I know English, German, Norwegian, Danish, Swedish, Icelandic, and I'm working on Scottish Gaelic. I've had use for each of these languages more than I've had for French, so I won't learn French.

Seems rather silly that it's an official language.

You're an idiot. If you want to waste your time learning, probably for fun, a bunch of languages whose speakers almost all know English anyway, that's your business. The only useful language I see in that list is German.

A quarter of the Canadian population speaks French, that's why it's an official language. No one's asking you to learn it, but if you don't you can forget about getting many jobs in the federal public service. You might be able to be a postal clerk in Kamloops, but forget about being ambassador to Iran.

French is a global language that opens a million times more doors than almost any of those you have supposedly learned. Not only that, but it allows you to gain access to an important market right here at home.

French is spoken as an official language on five continents. That's something you can't say about any of the languages you speak (besides English).

[MacDonaill]

Things are not so different in Quebec than in the other provinces. Anglophones in Quebec have the right to do anything in English with either government. We have our own schools, we have our own TV and Radio stations. The only thing we can't do is post unilingual English signs. They have to be bilingual. French has to be first (which I do find stupid, but it's not the end of the world).

Just like Ontario, if you ask me. I'm living in Kitchener right now, and I don't see any signs in French. I do see some French schools, and there are certain banks and government postings that offer service in French (just like Quebec in English). That's about it. But the population is English and English is the normal language of commerce and education etc... Totally acceptable.

People just don't seem to grasp that in Quebec, French is the normal language of trade, commerce and education, and the people intend to keep it that way because they know that if they don't make an effort, then things will slowly deteriorate as was happening before. That's the nature of being an enclave society. Before the Charter of the French Language, the quality of the spoken French was horrendous. Uneducated people were basically speaking neither English nor French but an awful mixture of the two which was frankly an insult to both. The normal language of business and commerce was English, even though anglophones only made up 10% of the population.

Frankly, for so long, people weren't being treated fairly or with any sort of respect just because they were francophone, and the French language in America was considered a mark of shame. Now, things have changed. People are proud to speak French, more and more francophones are comfortable with their place in Canadian society and this is because they know they now actually have a place in the administration, in public life etc...

Will Canada ever truly be bilingual in the sense that all of its citizens will speak both languages equally well? Of course not, and that was never the intention. But shouldn't everyone at least be able to hold a conversation in the official language that's not his mother tongue? Of course. Why not? Only then will Canadians from both sides of the linguistic divide be truly able to understand and appreciate each other's culture and contributions, and be able to recognise all the many things we have in common.

[Bodah]

Nice post MacDonaill, seriously.

But we know the original intent of bilingualism wasn't suppose to be what its turned out to be presently. I know a few francophones when we talk about it say, the bilingualism pendulum has swung a little to far to the right.

[EdwardRI]

kenmore kenmore:

EdwardRI EdwardRI:

I know English, German, Norwegian, Danish, Swedish, Icelandic, and I'm working on Scottish Gaelic. I've had use for each of these languages more than I've had for French, so I won't learn French.

Seems rather silly that it's an official language.

And my question to you is... where did you "have to use them" ? not in Canada where the two OFFICIAL languages are french and english.. .. sounds like you would like to live in Europe? planes leave every hour!

Having lived in Canada all my life, I'm yet to find a situation where knowing any amount of french would have been useful. That french is an official language, on the books, is purely academic to me.