Tuesday, November 2, 2010

Quebec Botching Immigrant Francization

In case anyone hasn't noticed, the battle to keep Quebec speaking French has moved past the traditional Anglophone/Francophone rivalry.

The anglophone community that remains, has long given up the ghost that Quebec will ever again be a bilingual province, but that being said, today's anglophones have struck a nice balance in their lives, one where they live comfortably in English towns in the western side of the island of Montreal and where they work and recreate bilingually.
Almost all anglos under forty are completely bilingual, the product of intense French language schooling from kindergarten to the end of high school, where students cannot graduate without being functionally bilingual.
 So venturing out into the French reality of the rest of the province is not the scary scenario it once was. The high interaction and intermarriage rate between anglophones and francophones is a testament that the modern anglophone community gets on pretty well with the francophone majority and that the majority of francophones are fine with the Anglos.
What we don't hear often enough, is the boringly good relations that exists between English and French, who aside from language share a common reality.
I myself played in an industrial hockey league for over thirty years, in the west island where the teams naturally filled out with English and French components and communication was decidedly bilingual.
"HOSTIE, PASS LA PUCK!" It was a good natured workout among middle aged talentless hockey aficionados, both French and English, followed by an hour or so of bilingual hockey talk over a 'boc' (pitcher) or two of draft beer in the bar. This is far more representative of the English/French reality than militants would have us believe.

And so young anglos, comfortable in their environment are no longer fleeing the province. The mass immigration of preceding decades is over as the anglo community has now actually stabilized and even made a small recovery.

Ironically this doesn't sit well with hard line French language militants who are disappointed that this exodus has stopped.

On Friday my blog piece referred to a Radio-Canada investigative report that complained about French service being unavailable in some shops  in 'English" neighbourhoods in Montreal. 
Not surprising, not one of the 'offenders' was an Anglo, they were all visible minorities, most likely immigrants.  

The battle to keep Quebec French is no longer about anglos, but rather the effort to get immigrants to assimilate into the French community, not an easy task.

Although French language militants believe there is an active plot by anglos to anglicize Quebec, the real problem lies with the government whose misguided policies have actually hindered the number of immigrants embracing the French side of the language equation.

Up to now, the government has employed a rather simplistic two-pronged plan to facilitate this assimilation, a plan with which few who want to protect the French language would argue with, but one with which they should. 

The first phase of this plan is the selection of immigrants who already speak French (as much as possible,) coupled with the compulsory integration of immigrant children into French schools.

That's it, that's the whole plan!
Ah, if it were only as easy as that!

Not surprising, this immigration plan has had limited success.  Although the level of French assimilation has risen from a dismal 25% to over 50% presently, it needs to hit at least 80% to maintain linguistic balance.
The current path will never achieve that goal, even if Bill 101 were to be applied to all public and private schools.
 
Some argue that French can never prevail in this battle as long as Anglos and the English option exists in Quebec and so, the province is doomed to a slow, inexorable process of anglicization.

Perhaps, perhaps not. But that shouldn't stop the government from doing a much better job integrating immigrants.

The policy of leaving it up to the French school system and 'Father Time' to complete the assimilation process is a monumental misjudgment.

Amazingly, nobody in the militant camp is proposing a better assimilation process, so obsessed are they with the idea that imposing Bill 101 on daycare through university is the panacea. 

The reality is that schools have marginal success in countering anglicization. It's a fact that is being completely ignored.

Many students from immigrant families go through twelve or thirteen years of French school, yet they still opt for English Cegep. Why?

How is it, that in spite of their entire French educational path, they speak English with enough proficiency to be able to tackle English college?

The reality that is being ignored, is that French schools don't create francophones out of immigrant students. They create bilingual students.

Until the government realizes that the home environment is what decides a child's linguistic future and not the school, they are doomed to failure.

It's a variation on an old theme, like nurture versus nature, or environment versus genetics.

The policy of writing off the family dynamic and counting on the schools to complete the francization process is folly.

Language and culture is learned in the home, not the school. When the government accepts this reality, they can then develop policies that work.

Until then......It's welcome to Quebec and this way to Dawson College......

Tomorrow... It's the family dynamic that sets children on their linguistic course.

45 comments:

  1. Whoa, whoa... What are you suggesting? That immigrant parents self-francisize their children at home? Is the encroaching of private life not enough with the limitation of language of instructions?

    I am all for learning French and to speak French to Francophones. After all, we live in Quebec. However, I will not take it when my son and I are in the bus / metro and we converse in English and somebody interrupts us telling me to speak French to my son. At that point I just tell that person to mind his own business, in English for sure.

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  2. Sans oublier la célèbre phrase de Clemenceau: «L'Angleterre est une colonie française qui a mal tourné»! Pourquoi pas: Le Canada est une nation francophone qui a mal tourné ?

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  3. Mississauga Guy said...

    Score one for the Editor for pointing out the delicious irony of it all!

    I'm delighted if all this is true and I hope I live long enough to see it morph to fruition, to the point it whips the crazy zealots into an even crazier frenzy!

    I deal with bank branches across Canada, bilingually, and most of the French speaking immigrants speak French as their second or third language. They very often also speak English. It's just too good that this is all happening.

    I'm sure Louise Beaudoin would still like to have language cops under every bed and punish those who don't snore, sleeptalk or make love using French interjections. Oh là là!

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  4. An interesting statistic is the number of immigrants arriving in Quebec who emgigrate to other areas of Canada within a few years. I came across the statistic but I simply can't remember where. Safe to say the figure is quite significant. I suspect this is the same for the parents of immigrant children who want the best for their children in the future. They look at "not" becoming fluent in english as a siginificant handicap and limitation when they look at the demographics of North America. Can anybody blame them.

    Its not likely the anglos who will anglicize Quebec further; more likely the allophones. Even the french speaking immigrants so coveted by the language zealots realize this. As they have no ties to the Quebecois de souche or culture , (What does one from Senegal or Algiers have in common with a pure laine Quebecois) they rapidly realize to get along or advance in NA (or for that matter the ROC) one needs to have a strong command of english language. It is only in Quebec that one really needs to understand french and this will change with french being less important as time goes on.

    I frankly, have no idea, why we in the ROC waste so much capital on french immersion programs for a language that is simply not required. Sure, its an official language but an official language with not a great deal of relevance to 90% of the people in this country and less relevent to the balance of NA. Politics, I would think, is the major factor including the threat of Quebec separation which is rapidly becoming a dog with rubber teeth.

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  5. Anonymous at 09:23,

    You are absolutely right. Canada was a French territory that went the wrong way. Which way was wrong? It was the INCOMPETENCE of the French Army that let the damn English beat them into submission at the Battle of the Plains of Abraham. To illustrate the valiance of the French soldiers, that battle is recorded as one of the shortest battles in recorded history.

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  6. Anonymous 11:50 is right on the mark. While all the parents in the ROC who have their kids in French immersion programs have the right idea, they have the wrong language. Realistically, unless you want your kids to be a federal civil servant or do translation for cereal boxes, learning French won't do them much good. A second language will always be an advantage, but they'd be better off learning Mandarin or Hindi.

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  7. The Anglo Montrealer weighs in...

    I'm an English speakin individual living on the island of Montreal and I can conclude that what the editor posted is very accurate. No matter how much the language zealots attempt to force immigrants into French schools, they will eventually learn English and attend English CEGEPS and universities (the majority anyways). I'm very happy to see that the language Nazis are losing ground in this decades long language war.

    A couple of side notes. This conception that "Canada is scared of Quebec secession" is just wrong, because it implies that Quebec can unilaterally separate should its demands not be met. It does not work that way, especially that a federal party is in power. The Bloc heads know this very clearly and manipulate the political ignorance of the everyday Canadian for attention(just attention, they know that no one else outside Quebec will not even think about giving them a vote). Canada constantly appeases Quebec because it has to under the OLA; because Trudeau planned it this way. You can all thank Trudeau for the current policy of putting Quebec's interest above everyone else's.

    My second point is that Quebec IS a bilingual province by virtue of the constitution from 1867. Section 133 of the constitution clearly states that English can be used in all Courts and Parliament in Quebec, and that all published reports in the province MUST be printed in both languages. This makes English a de facto official language in Quebec. This is a fact that people very often overlook.

    Having said all this, congrats to Editor for pointing out the great irony of it all. I'm looking forward to all the language Nazi troll comments that will probably be followed by this post.

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  8. An immigrant who will take the first opportunity out...

    Immigrants are prevented from integrating in Quebec because they can't find work if they are not bilingual. Most people will learn French by using the language daily while still being able to pay the bills. But where is the fun in that?

    Bill 101 puts Francophones on a pedestal. Anglophones and immigrants are second class citizens in Quebec. What a crock - having to bow to them as if they are kings while knowing they have done f**k all.

    I am all for Canada kicking out this ungrateful, corrupt, greedy bully of a province. But whether it stays or leaves, Quebec will self-destruct. I look forward to it. Frankly, the federal government should have never allowed these ridiculous antics in the first place. Yes Quebec, you can probably be compensated for this injustice in later years.

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  9. "A second language will always be an advantage, but they'd be better off learning Mandarin or Hindi."

    Agreed, even espangnol as we are trading more and more with the emerging markets in Latin America. We really do not utilize french with any significant trading partner other than France. Most of the former french colonies are third world countries with little relevance to trade. Perhaps someone could give me an example of a french speaking country we do a lot of business with other than France itself.

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  10. A stronger Bill 101 would help somewhat. Immigrants could (and probably should) be made to attend post-secondary schools only in French for example. But this deals only with the symptoms and not the root cause. The truth is that for Francophones ANY immigration is a Hobbesian choice at best. Immigration WEAKENS French Canada both by reducing its share of the Canadian population and diluting its French character in Quebec. It also tends to make Francophones 'just another' ethnic group in Canada or even worse a bubble in a melting pot. Why does Canada have such a ridiculously high amount of immigration and from countries and cultures that have no historic presence here? Canada lets in over 250,000 people each and every single year, the highest in proportional terms of any country in the world. On an American scale this would be a staggering 2.5 million people a year. Almost none of these foreigners are ethnically French, few are French-speaking or will settle in Quebec and of those who do none feel any ties to Quebec's rich history and Francophone culture. They have simply come for a higher standard of living for themselves. Had there been no immigration since 1867 Francophones would probably be the majority in Canada today. Even our current madness is not enough for some. Justin Trudeau, liberal immigration critic (how appropriate) wants to increase the flow to 350,000 a year. In ten years that would be the whole of greater Montreal. In two decades thats SEVEN MILLION people - almost the whole of Quebec. What Francophones should have sought is reducing and restricting immigration as much as possible. The Toronto guy.

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  11. "...An immigrant who will take the first opportunity out..."

    Il ne vous ai jamais passé par l'esprit d'aller vivre en ontario ou dans le vermont ? Tout vos problèmes seraient réglés,plus besoin de s'adapter aux lois locales.

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  12. "Il ne vous ai jamais passé par l'esprit d'aller vivre en ontario ou dans le vermont ? Tout vos problèmes seraient réglés,plus besoin de s'adapter aux lois locales."

    I rather create Vermont and Ontario wherever I can in the province of Quebec.

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  13. "...but they'd be better off learning Mandarin or Hindi."

    Si vos capacités intellectuelles vous limitent au globish (approx:2,500 mots),par quel miracle allez apprendre des langues aussi complexes que le Mandarin ou le Hindi?

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  14. From the immigrant...
    So simple to suggest moving elsewhere, as if I don't have a brain to come up with that one on my own. My spouse was born here - he is completely bilingual. He is French-Canadian even. He wants to leave this hole as well. He finds your antics tiring and wasteful of resources (thank god for that sign requesting you serve me in French, now could I have a family doctor please??).

    He, fortunately, does have a good job here. But that means I have to suffer at the hands of openly hostile separatists almost everytime I leave the house, even to do simple tasks like shopping for groceries. Before coming here, I earned two masters degrees and worked in a professional career. Now I cook, clean and try to hold my tongue in public. What a life, but at least my husband is wonderful.

    I should also tell that I have taken several French courses throughout my life and no, I still have no idea what you are saying when you speak your patois.

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  15. Yes Troy...except that you are *on* the bus and *on* the metro with your son...not *in*, so much for being an Anglophone.

    Now...

    "Almost all anglos under forty are completely bilingual, the product of intense French language schooling from kindergarten to the end of high school, where students cannot graduate without being functionally bilingual."

    Right. And that's why I repeatedly have to translate my Anglo friends' resumes and motivation letters. And that's also why Anglophones are unable to use the vous-form in a professional setting. So much for being bilingual...let alone funcitonal.

    "HOSTIE, PASS LA PUCK!"

    That's not being bilingual, that's being linguistically dysfunctional and speaking Frenglish, that's speaking neither French nor English well. It's speaking both poorly.

    "An interesting statistic is the number of immigrants arriving in Quebec who emgigrate to other areas of Canada within a few years. I came across the statistic but I simply can't remember where. Safe to say the figure is quite significant."

    An interesting statistic is how Quebec City - the supposedly all-white and unilingual French "village" that has Quebec's oldest English-speaking community, North America's oldest (English-speaking) newspaper and Canada's oldest (English-speaking) scholarly society) - retains 85% of its immigrants, which exceeds the national average by 5%.

    " learning French won't do them much good. A second language will always be an advantage, but they'd be better off learning Mandarin or Hindi."

    French is spoken on all four continents, in more countries that Spanish or Mandarin Chinese, is the first official language of the Olympic Committee and the working language of a dozen international organizations. Widely spoken and understood in Western Europe, widely spoken, taught and understood in Western and Northern Africa, still one of the most studied as a second language. It is, get this my good unilingual Anglos, the 2nd most influential language in the world after English, *before* Spanish, Arabic, Russian or Mandarin Chinese (see George Weber's list of the world's most influential languages). And before you tell me the list is outdated because it was published in the late 1990's, it was re-assessed in 2008 and came to the same conclusions, therefore the same ranking. Just because a language has more native speakers doesn't mean it's *more* important.

    To Anonymous from NOVEMBER 2, 2010 5:44 PM:

    "I should also tell that I have taken several French courses throughout my life and no, I still have no idea what you are saying when you speak your patois."

    Well you're amazingly talentless when it comes to languages, unfortunately.

    The rest of your blog is gibberish, of course.

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  16. A very nice rant, until you insulted the author of this blog.

    ho,.. hum......

    Try to do that on French separatist/nationalist website....
    Try telling L. Prefontaine that his blog is gibberish and wait to be published.

    That's the difference between free speech and what you believe in....

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  17. Mmmm...how does saying that the content of one's blog is gibberish go against free speech? Free speech gives me the right to say it's gibberish, just like it gives the right to other users to say it's amazing and accurate.

    As for the talentless comment: simply the harsh reality of things. Standard Quebec French is not a patois, it is virtually the same as European French except for some differences in vocabulary and a few differences in spelling (mostly when it comes to accents on capital letters) or punctuation. The accent is of course the main and possibly the most unsettling difference but anyone with enough goodwill can get used to it. Colloquial Quebec French/slang has several dialects or variants, which could be regarded as patois (e.g.: Montreal French, Saguenay French, Gaspesian French, Mauricie French, Quebec City French, Charlevoix French, etc.), but this linguistic diversity you find in every language of the world and exaggerations are too easy to make.

    So to call "our" French a patois is not only insulting (though forgivable), but more alarmingly ignorant.

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  18. From the immigrant...

    Thanks for pointing out that I have no talent when it comes to languages. The ability to state the obvious (or reconfirming what I have already said in actuality) is certainly an attribute for which you should be proud. I have a hearing impairment similar to one of our local mayors. Can I please be a benefits cheat like the rest of you lot?

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  19. "I still have no idea what you are saying when you speak your patois."

    Vous n'avez qu'a l'apprendre.Avec un peu de concentration et la multiplication des contacts de façon quotidienne avec des Québécois,vous devriez y arriver.

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  20. Un peu d'éducation pour certains d'entre-vous:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dABo_DCIdpM&feature=player_embedded

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  21. Anon 6:32PM, 7:31PM

    You do realize that Quebecois shows and movies are routinely subtitled on French and Belgian networks (I assume it's the same on Swiss channels). Why do you think that is?

    This summer I was in Amsterdam, where I caught a subtitled Quebec show on TV5Monde. It starred Marc Labreche, one of the main Quebec television personalities, which didn't spare the show from close captions: http://adski77.blogspot.com/2010/07/tv5monde-subtitles-quebec-french.html

    Compare that with North American English, which you won’t find subtitled in Britain or in any other Anglo country. American English has become the most recognizable form of English in the world, while American French has descended into the least recognizable form of French.

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  22. "...Compare that with North American English..."

    Savez-vous combien il y a d'accents différents aux É.U ?Saviez-vous que que nous avions aussi un Français international?Beaucoup d'émissions a radio-Can n'ont besoin d'aucune traduction a l'étranger et que nous-même avons parfois du mal a saisir l'accent Suisse,Belge et même Français?J'imagine que le polonais international a les mêmes contraintes...au fait,existe-t-il un polonais international?

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  23. From the immigrant:
    Appreciated, but I have seen enough of Quebec's ways in this lifetime. Having something forced upon me makes my brain shut off - I am rebel like that, obviously to my detriment, but that is life.

    I actually took the French courses (4 years in fact) while living outside Quebec when I was happy to try learning the language. I took one course upon arrival. And then I tried to find work. Learning the language through immersion was my goal. Contributing to society and to my family was another.

    The longer I went without work due to not being fluent in French, the more I learned of Quebec's ugly truth - greedy, corrupt and xenophobic. It's just not a place I want to live.

    If I had been allowed to work, things may have been different. The patois comment was just out of spite - don't overanalyze it. My husband will be leaving a good job and we will have to sell our house. I'm not happy with that. I would have learned to speak French just by interacting in a work situation. I already have a huge vocabulary and a general understanding of the grammar rules. But, I just can't be bothered with the games anymore.

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  24. "French is spoken on all four continents, in more countries that Spanish or Mandarin Chinese,....) You didn't answer the question I had asked. West Africa...northern Africa...economic powerhouses, yeah right. French is on the decline.

    Now answer the f'king question that I asked. Or is it you do not have an answer.

    "is the first official language of the Olympic Committee and the working language of a dozen international organizations."

    Really, where does english stand ? I would bet that there is more english spoken at olympic organizing events than french.

    "Standard Quebec French is not a patois, it is virtually the same as European French except for some differences in vocabulary and a few differences in spelling (mostly when it comes to accents on capital letters) or punctuation"

    Tsigidou. (:)) Is that why some Quebecois movies or sitcoms are subtitled in "proper french" when exported to France...so the french can understand your joual.


    "So to call "our" French a patois is not only insulting (though forgivable), but more alarmingly ignorant."

    Yes, we forgive your Joual.. :) Je suis tres desole pour toi. hi hi

    Vous avez une bonne nuit..mon petit homme Quebecois avec le mauvais francais.. Votre langue est minimaliste et sera de rien. ...maintenaut...apprendez est practique le premiere langue dans le monde et quoi est la ? Bonne chance et sucez mon queue.

    Vous etes tres drole...Ha ha ha

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  25. "If I had been allowed to work, things may have been different. The patois comment was just out of spite - don't overanalyze it. My husband will be leaving a good job and we will have to sell our house."

    The best thing you could do right now is leave that backwater province with their narrow minds. Get out before the PQ take power as any value in your house shortly after will be severely eroded, after their impending victory. Move to a part of Canada that does not have bigotted sign laws and laws regarding language of education. If you do, you will experience short term pain for long term gain as many others now understand.

    Good luck.

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  26. "The accent is of course the main and possibly the most unsettling difference but anyone with enough goodwill can get used to it"

    Then why do you not speak it properly with proper accents...Je suis pas j'sus. Oui et pas OUEEE. Goodwill, speak the language properly. then I might understand. Pauvre petit homme du Quebec avec le accente Joual. Desole pour ma mauvais francais. He he.

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  27. "Beaucoup d'émissions a radio-Can n'ont besoin d'aucune traduction a l'étranger et que nous-même avons parfois"

    Oui, tu as raison avec ca. Because the commentators on Radio Canada have excellent french.. not like the balance of the Quebecois...qui parle la joual. Hi hi.

    Je coire Mdm. Galipeu est tres chaude. Comment pensez vous avec ca. Bien sure elle parle le francais tres correcte et pas comme les ensembles en Quebec avec joual la la.

    Oh la la. ma chere dame Celine, j'adore elle pour son francais perfecte et pas de gens en quebec qui parle le joual. Ha ha ha

    Assez bien "fun" pour ce soire. Bonne nuit a tous.

    Regards,

    The Westerner ou should that be l'homme de le ouest. C'est votre choix.

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  28. "Move to a part of Canada that does not have bigotted sign laws and laws regarding language of education..."

    Pourquoi ne pas lui avoir expliquer tout ça avant qu'elle débarque ici avec sa famille?
    Comment se fait-il que ces immigrés ne savaient pas que la langue officielle du Québec est le Français?

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  29. Anonymous at 18:32:

    "Yes Troy...except that you are *on* the bus and *on* the metro with your son...not *in*, so much for being an Anglophone."

    Ha! Now I got you! You do not even know the difference between 'in' and 'on', do you?

    'On the bus' denotes the act of riding the bus while 'in the bus' shows that the event happens within the enclosure of the bus.

    However, the bigger question I think is for you to nitpick the grammar instead of the issue that I presented. Looking for a straw man, perhaps?

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  30. Wondering who can tell me if you believe Quebecois French is more different from French-French than American English is from British English...

    Because it seems to me that it is more different. I lived in Quebec before with my French Canadian husband, though he thinks the difference is about the same.

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  31. Diana, the difference between French-French and Quebec French is as obvious as between British English and American English.

    French-French is softer than Quebec French and may come off as sophisticated and even pretentious to North Americans accustomed to Quebec French. To some of us, French-French may even come off as gay.

    I guess we can apply a similar distinction to British vs. American English.

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  32. @adski:

    So to your ear the difference is equivalent? That is what my husband says, as well. But it has always sounded to me (and I am still convinced!) as if the difference is greater between the two varieties of French.

    Disney has recorded separate versions of their songs for speakers of Canadian and European French, yet they have only one version for English. Why do you think they would go to all the trouble of remaking song for a population of 6 million Canadian French speakers, and not do the same for British English?

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  33. "...remaking song for a population of 6 million Canadian French speakers..."

    La raison est que nous sommes une société distincte.Pas supérieure mais bien distincte.

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  34. anon:

    Je n'ai rien dit a propos de votre superiorite. Ni de votre culture distincte.

    Je veux simplement savoir si la difference entre le francais de France et le francais du Quebec est plus grande que la difference entre l'anglais britannique et l'anglais americain. Il me semble que oui, mais mon mari (qui est quebecois mais qui ne demeure pas au Quebec) dit non.

    Rien a voir avec la culture. Je parle seulement des differences entre les dialectes.

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  35. "La raison est que nous sommes une société distincte.Pas supérieure mais bien distincte."
    No you idiot, it's because Quebec French is inaudible gibberish to French speakers from France. You Nazis always manage to turn ANYTHING into a sovereignty debate. That comment kinda made me laugh.

    @Anon:7:50 AM
    "Comment se fait-il que ces immigrés ne savaient pas que la langue officielle du Québec est le Français?"
    Because it isn't. No provincial legislature can override section 133 of the BNA Constitution.

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  36. Diana, since it’s subjective, it’s hard to quantify. To me, both are obviously different. To the point that leaves no doubt.

    I’m not sure why Disney would put out a Quebecois French version of a song. It makes absolutely no sense. Maybe it has to do with the fact that British singers always sound American in their songs, so the British accent is somehow lost in songs and therefore there is no point of putting out two versions in English, while it can be done in French.

    But it nonetheless sounds like a waste of time, money, and resources to create a song for a market of 7 million who wouldn’t have a problem understanding the French-French version. Maybe Disney has money to burn and plenty of time to waste.

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  37. "No provincial legislature can override section 133 of the BNA Constitution."

    Oui,la loi 101.Ouch!

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  38. "Je veux simplement savoir si la difference entre le francais de France et le francais du Quebec est plus grande que la difference entre l'anglais britannique et l'anglais americain..."

    Votre mari est Québécois,non? Alors il est le mieux placé pour résoudre vos problèmes de langue.
    Vous pouvez toujours regarder ceci en attendant votre mari.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dABo_DCIdpM&feature=player_embedded

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  39. @ adski: Yes, I realize it's subjective. I just wanted to hear other opinions.

    @ anon: Interesting video, I do see the point you are trying to make. As to my husband, he's not interested in talking about languages.

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  40. So the fact that some Quebec SITCOMS (slang/colloquial language is spoken in sitcoms by the way, NOT standard/more neutral language) is your only example to call Quebec French improper? Good Lord...

    Actually, Quebec sitcoms need to be subtitled because the French just willingly and arrogantly turn a deaf ear to any foreign accent. They are just that chauvinistic. Second reason is: European French has been reduced (through massive Frenchization campaigns by the French govt. in the late 19th and early 20th century - because before then, my dear friends, not even half of the French actually spoke French) to this monotonous variant, devoid of any vocalic diversity that contains far less vowel sounds than Quebec French, therefore making our dear ol' Frenchies one of the most linguistically handicaped people in the world.

    The French are unable to get rid of their accent in any foreign language, whether it be Russian or Chinese, because they can't mentally conceive nor produce any other sounds but their own. As for Quebecers, they are the only Francophone people in the world to be able to speak German without an accent (a fact widely known and accepted among academic circles in Germany, before you want to argue with me), FOR EXAMPLE.

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  41. @Anglo Montrealer

    Dites-moi,comment faites-vous pour vivre convenablement a Montréal?Tout est en Français et vous devez maîtriser cette langue pour travailler.

    Européen qui s'intérroge.

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  42. @ Diane:

    The differences between colloquial Quebec French and European French are greater than those between American and British English but lesser than between High and Swiss German. That is you could quantify it.

    And remember, my good Anglos, our expressions, accents and many of the words proper to Quebec French all come from the French themselves. Even the word ''blonde'' comes from an old French song "Auprès de ma blonde". At the time of colonization, most of the French settlers didn't speak French at all but many of the regional languages and dialects spoken throughout France at the time and so they adopted the Royal French variant of Paris as a common ground for language, mixed and coloured with their own regional flavours that eventually merged to form Quebec French. Then English has to come and screw it all up, of course.

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  43. I miss something... for years. Why should Quebec be bilingual? Ontario is not bilingual. It's a joke. Only some receptionist from PEI are hired and it is so difficult to understand their French, I'd rather speak English.
    If you come from Quebec they will make you wait, they will hire someone from France or Belgium without verifying their real credentials. So Quebec is a French Province, since 400 years, it will remain French, it evolves in French, and the rest of Canada doesn't like it! Well too bad. You are the ones calling yourself the rest.. wouf, wouf!

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  44. Quebec French is as different than the French from Alsace or from Normandy. English-speaking from Ontario speak differently than the ones from the south of England and from the North of England. Why being so disdainful, because you don't speak anything else but English from your lovely Canada ? When you live in Ontario because you did not choose it, you have to face everyday you will die in a hospital surrounded with English nurses only. You have the choice in Montreal.

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  45. For the youngsters in the first paragraphs, let me recommend the history of linguistics from Perret, a book you should read.
    You will learn that Quebec "joual" is not a patois. Joual is a word which means a horse, a horse which was running fast to escape his capture (from the English). It is not to be used to depreciate in a pejorative way the status of the brave Quebecois. The idioms in our language are complex and generally patois are languages which are successful and colourful.

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