More Canadians Want To Speak French

[FSTargetDrone]

Story, in English:

Most Canadians want to speak French, but can't

Jennifer Forhan

Reuters

Tuesday, September 25, 2007

TORONTO (Reuters) - English-speaking Canadians really want to be bilingual, but only 5 percent of them feel comfortable reading, writing and speaking their country's second official language, according to a new opinion poll.

The online poll, conducted by AngusReidStrategies, showed that 70 percent of English-speakers want to speak better French, which is the main language in Quebec, but which is used much less frequently in other provinces.

"It's good for everyone to be able to (speak) all of it," Heather Schiller, a 24-year-old dancer and actor told Reuters in Toronto.

"It makes us seem more educated. And you get paid more if you're bilingual. The opportunities are greater."

Schiller attended French immersion in elementary school but admits she would be hard-pressed to hold down a conversation now. "I will study it again, within the next five years," she said. "That way I can go anywhere. As a performer, I would get to do more if I could speak French."

The survey of just under 1,000 Canadians showed that 58 percent of English-speakers want Canada to keep having two official languages, although support for a bilingual country varied greatly depending on the province.

In Alberta, which has a relatively small number of native French speakers, 55 percent of respondents said Canada needed only one official language.

According to figures from the 2001 census, the most recent data available, some 17.5 million of Canada's 29.4 million population say English is their mother tongue, while 6.4 million are native French speakers.

"We should remain bilingual," said Lance Alexander, a management consultant in Toronto, who took five years of French in high school but says he has not retained much of it.

"I think it's hugely important and I think it's one of the things that differentiates Canada from all the other countries in the world. Not too many countries have two or more official languages. So I think it's something we should be proud of."

The online poll found that Quebec was by far the most bilingual province in Canada, with 56 percent of English-speakers describing themselves as fluent or nearly fluent in French.

Language has often been a divisive issue in Canada. Quebec laws limit enrollment in the province's English-language school system, and stipulate that French words on public signage must be larger and more visible than the English.

Even octagonal stop signs, which carry the word "Stop" in France, bear the ungrammatical "Arret" in Quebec.

How many of you Canadians can speak French, at least enough to hold a conversation? How about reading French?

[J]

Reading French is easy and I can speak it pretty well on a conversational level, though I probably wouldn't be too comfortable in a formal setting with important people.

[Aaron]

I only speak enough French to order a beer and swear. I'm from BC if that matters. I had the option of taking a year long French course while in the Army but that would have virtually ensured that I would be posted to Valcartier right afterwards so I turned it down.

[RogueIce]

I only speak enough French to order a beer and swear. I'm from BC if that matters. I had the option of taking a year long French course while in the Army but that would have virtually ensured that I would be posted to Valcartier right afterwards so I turned it down.

You know, I'm curious now. How does the English vs French thing work in the CDF? Do they just keep the French speakers amongst each other? What about manuals and stuff like that?

[Aaron]

You know, I'm curious now. How does the English vs French thing work in the CDF? Do they just keep the French speakers amongst each other? What about manuals and stuff like that?

Most of the native French speakers are in 5 Brigade at CFB Valcartier in Quebec, the bilingual people are dispersed throughout the CF. And manuals and pubs are in both languages.

[aerius]

I only speak enough French to order a beer and swear.

Ordering a beer is within my grasp, but unfortunately I can't even swear in French anymore.

I can understand a fair bit of spoken French and reading isn't too bad either, I'm Ok with most newspapers and magazines, but books are mostly beyond me.

With a few months of practice I could likely get basic conversational French, emphasis on "basic".

[Aaron]

Ordering a beer is within my grasp, but unfortunately I can't even swear in French anymore.

French Canadian swear words are all religiously based, two common ones are "Chalice" (pronouced Call-ice) and "Tabernack".

[Ma Deuce]

I can read some French with difficulty and understand some spoken words, but speaking it fluently and understanding normal French speech is beyond me. My skills in French were much better right out of school (French is a required part of the curriculum), but they have atrophied considerably, since there is really no practical need to know the language outside Quebec.

[[R_H]]

I did 5 years of Late French Immersion in Canada (ie started with French in junior highschool), and I'm continuing with it here in Europe too. So yeah, I understand both spoken and written French fairly well.

[Xisiqomelir]

In Alberta, which has a relatively small number of native French speakers, 55 percent of respondents said Canada needed only one official language.

Shocking and wholly unexpected.

[General Trelane (Retired)]

In Alberta, which has a relatively small number of native French speakers, 55 percent of respondents said Canada needed only one official language.

Shocking and wholly unexpected.

Agreed. I thought it would be more like 75%.

As for myself, my French sucks marde. It is NOT required cirriculum (or at least it wasn't eons ago when I took it in highschool), and I can't catch more than the general drift of a conversation.

[Lisa]

i can swear but all my parisian friends think quebec swear words are funny

[SCRawl]

I took French through high school, and I even took a first-year course in university. I married a woman who speaks the language fluently. And I still can't speak it worth a damn. I can read it at about a fourth-grade level, and I can understand someone if they're speaking slowly and clearly (which excludes about 98% of all French Canadians). In an emergency situation I could probably make myself understood, but I don't have the vocabulary or the sentence structure down.

[Lagmonster]

I can; but I'd say maybe half the anglophones in the Ottawa region speak French fluently, where almost all of the francophones speak English fluently. The rest of the anglophones speak French only well enough to ask for directions to the can or read road signs in Quebec.

But I'm in the capital, and right on the border at that, so there is a greater emphasis on people here speaking French, especially if you want to work for the government. I can travel anywhere west of here and not find anyone who speaks French for miles.

[Aaron]

I can; but I'd say maybe half the anglophones in the Ottawa region speak French fluently, where almost all of the francophones speak English fluently. The rest of the anglophones speak French only well enough to ask for directions to the can or read road signs in Quebec.

But I'm in the capital, and right on the border at that, so there is a greater emphasis on people here speaking French, especially if you want to work for the government. I can travel anywhere west of here and not find anyone who speaks French for miles.

Yeah practically no one in the Ottawa Valley speaks French save for the few bilingual folks at CFB Petawawa.

[aerius]

i can swear but all my parisian friends think quebec swear words are funny

I have French speaking friends from both Quebec and France, there's definitely a difference though I'll be damned if I can explain it. All I know is that chick with French accent = hot.

[Aaron]

I have French speaking friends from both Quebec and France, there's definitely a difference though I'll be damned if I can explain it. All I know is that chick with French accent = hot.

French Canadian swear words are all based on items from the Catholic religion "Callice"=Chalice and "Tabernack"=Tabernacle. Actual Parisan French swear words are just real swear words like in English as far as I know. Like "Merde"=shit.

[FSTargetDrone]

French Canadian swear words are all based on items from the Catholic religion "Callice"=Chalice and "Tabernack"=Tabernacle. Actual Parisan French swear words are just real swear words like in English as far as I know. Like "Merde"=shit.

So what do "Callice" and "Tabernack" mean when used as profanity?

[Aaron]

So what do "Callice" and "Tabernack" mean when used as profanity?

Heres a list of French Canadian profanity for you and it's meaning. As for it's use: there just generally used in place of fuck and shit in the English language. I've noticed that "crisse" is used when they are especially pissed off.

[Enigma]

I can; but I'd say maybe half the anglophones in the Ottawa region speak French fluently, where almost all of the francophones speak English fluently. The rest of the anglophones speak French only well enough to ask for directions to the can or read road signs in Quebec.

But I'm in the capital, and right on the border at that, so there is a greater emphasis on people here speaking French, especially if you want to work for the government. I can travel anywhere west of here and not find anyone who speaks French for miles.

I despise the French language. I learned french all the way to Grade 10 and I was fine with it. I started hating the language after graduating from high school. I had a hard time getting jobs because I was not fluently bilingual. I understood that front line jobs, jobs that require you to interact with the public would need bilingual speaking people but jobs that are "behind the scenes"? There are many jobs here in Ottawa that do not need French but are there for political correctness. If French wasn't so emphasized or 'forced' I'd have taken a more positive atitude towards the french language and try to better my understanding.

French in Canada is basically an isolated language, the majority are in Quebec, the rest mainly in New Brunswick and Eastern Ontario. The rest of Canada is basically French free. 2001 Census

But thanks to Trudeau and every prime minister afterwards have kissed Quebec's ass and tried to do everything to placate the French, giving the English the finger. Everyone pretty much looks away when Quebec instituted those oppressive language laws and hiring 'language police' to make sure that French signs are two to three times larger than English and will fall on you like a ton of bricks if you have a small sign that is English only.

Lagmonster = I seriously doubt that half of the anglophones in the Ottawa region is fluent in French. I'd say that many have some knowledge of the language but not as far as saying that they are fluent.

[Broomstick]

Ha! Je suis une americaine et je parle francaise!

(Admittedly, I'm an exception, and I my French is not as good as it used to be)

[Elaro]

But thanks to Trudeau and every prime minister afterwards have kissed Quebec's ass

Well, to be fair, most of the time, the Prime Minister came from Quebec.

and tried to do everything to placate the French, giving the English the finger. Everyone pretty much looks away when Quebec instituted those oppressive language laws and hiring 'language police' to make sure that French signs are two to three times larger than English and will fall on you like a ton of bricks if you have a small sign that is English only.

While I agree that the government is overreacting a little (euphemism much?), the French that was spoken before those laws (and before the general sentiment that put those laws in place) was atrocious, and was in part more English than French. Additionally, the French Canadians (myself sorta-kinda included) have an almost maniacal fear of being assimilated, (thus, I think, the xenophobia behind the current "reasonable accomodations" debacle... gurrr), due to 1) Actual effort by the British to do so and 2) Because we're a minority in North America. So, by the '60s, Quebecers basically said fuck it and enacted laws to protect the French language by proverbially kicking English (the predominant-yet-minority language in Quebec) to the curb.

Yeah, we've gone overboard... anecdotally. But considering the linguistical question has become intrinsincally tied, for good or ill, to the provincial identity, it's understandable people are a little sensitive when it comes to not knowing French and living in Quebec.

THAT ASIDE... I approve of this article.

"Ben oui. En plus, en connaissant deux langages, on peut faire un Firefly et échapper à la censure! Esti d'cristi d'tabarnac de mautadit cah-lice!"

"Yeah. What's more, by knowing two languages, you can pull a Firefly and escape cnsorship! Host of the Christ of the Tabernacle of the damned chalice!"

Hot damn we have cool cusswords.

[Nieztchean Uber-Amoeba]

I can speak French pretty well, read it poorly, understand spoken Parisian French perfectly, and Quebec patois (or God forbid, Southern French dialects) is nearly incomprehensible to me. Then again, my former high school french teacher didn't graduate high school and worked as a gangster and bouncer in Quebec until he was in his late 20s. Of course, he was a badass who worked 3 jobs while teaching full-time, did one-handed push-ups at the drop of a hat, and spent entire classes telling stories or expounding on his weird philosophical and metaphysical views, so he was awesome anyway.

[Ma Deuce]

Well, to be fair, most of the time, the Prime Minister came from Quebec.

True, but lets not forget that our current Albertan prime minister can thank at least some of his political success to kissing Quebecois ass. This is also another reason I think that Stephane Dion will never be prime minister, since despite being from Quebec he adamantly refuses to do so.

[Darth Wong]

Well, to be fair, most of the time, the Prime Minister came from Quebec.

Conflict of interest is an ethical justification now?

True, but lets not forget that our current Albertan prime minister can thank at least some of his political success to kissing Quebecois ass. This is also another reason I think that Stephane Dion will never be prime minister, since despite being from Quebec he adamantly refuses to do so.

Stephane Dion will never be Prime Minister because he looks like a wimp. Never underestimate evolutionary programming. We only vote for people who can convince you that they're alpha dogs.