Friday, September 2, 2011

OQLF Sign Controversy- "It's like déjà vu all over again."

Since it's Friday and you've got the weekend ahead, I'm going to get into a meatier post about the story of the Office québécois de la langue française (OQLF,)  the language police, announcing that it is getting ready for a Fall offensive against those evil multinationals that insist on using their English name or trademark on their mastheads to do business in Quebec.
"The Quebec government is getting ready to launch a campaign this fall against big-box stores and their stubbornly English names.
The president of the Office québécois de la langue française, the agency that oversees the province's language laws, says the sign issue will be very important in the next few months."
It's an old story, which I believed had been settled many years back, when a United Nations panel ruled that the sign provision of Bill 101 violated Canada's convention obligations.

Perhaps with a new cast of Young Turks, the OQLF is attempting to re-open this can of worms, although I can't see there position being more valid now, then it was in the past.

Back in the last century, the OLF was pushing companies to change their corporate name or use a different French trademark. Some companies did comply and changed their masthead.
Office Depot (Now Staples) became Bureau en Gros. and Shoppers Drug Mart became Pharmaprix. The Bank of Nova Scotia became  the Banque de Nouvelle Ecosse, a literal translation which was changed once again, this time to Banque Scotia. The very worst example of conformity was Marks Work Wearhouse which became the perfectly awful "La Ouerâsse, a meaningless, yet French-sounding word. Mercifully, the stores were re-branded as L'Équipeur.

In all the recent stories published in the French press concerning the latest effort of the OQLF, all refer to the Supreme Court as the culprit in overturning certain aspects of Bill 101 in relation to signage.
These stories conveniently forget to detail the debacle that Quebec suffered at the United Nations, where the sign provisions of Bill 101 were found to contravene Article 19.2 of the  International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Canada is a signatory. The ruling came as a result of a complaint made by some Quebeckers. For details, see McIntyre v. Canada
Article 19.2 "Everyone shall have the right to freedom of expression; this right shall include freedom to seek, receive and impart information and ideas of all kinds, regardless of frontiers, either orally, in writing or in print, in the form of art, or through any other media of his choice."
 Here is part of the ruling made by the United Nations.
"...While the restrictions on outdoor advertising are indeed provided for by law, the issue to be addressed is whether they are necessary for the respect of the rights of others. The rights of others could only be the rights of the francophone minority within Canada under article 27. This is the right to use their own language, which is not jeopardized by the freedom of others to advertise in other than the French language. Nor does the Committee have reason to believe that public order would be jeopardized by commercial advertising outdoors in a language other than French. The Committee notes that the State party does not seek to defend Bill 178 on these grounds. Any constraints under paragraphs 3(a) and 3(b) of article 19 would in any event have to be shown to be necessary. The Committee believes that it is not necessary, in order to protect the vulnerable position in Canada of the francophone group, to prohibit commercial advertising in English. This protection may be achieved in other ways that do not preclude the freedom of expression, in a language of their choice, of those engaged in such fields as trade. For example, the law could have required that advertising be in both French and English. A State may choose one or more official languages, but it may not exclude, outside the spheres of public life, the freedom to express oneself in a language of one's choice. The Committee accordingly concludes that there has been a violation of article 19, paragraph 2."  LINK
Interestingly, the UN Committee also ruled that not only did the sign law contravene this section, the Quebec government could not invoke the 'Notwithstanding Clause' to opt out, because it would have the effect of breaching Canada's international commitment.
In other words, Quebec could not opt out of an international commitment made by Canada, in the same way that Quebec could not opt out of Canada's commitment to ban the importation of ivory, or Canada's international commitment not to import slaves. As long as Quebec remains a province, it is bound by Canada's international obligations.

Then of course there's the question of trademarks, where the Quebec government also found itself on the wrong end of a legal judgment which ruled that it could not stop companies from displaying  an English trademark as a masthead . 

And so the issue has largely been ignored for almost two decades. Some companies continue to  change their names to adapt, some don't, some make a half-hearted effort like The Brick which dropped the "The" part of their name and is known simply as the Brick.  Companies like Home Depot, Mailboxes Etc., Future Shop, Best Buy and a multitude of others continue to trade under an English banner, much to the chagrin of the OQLF and  language purists.

Any Anglo living in Quebec, who has a first name that has a similar version in French, has had the unpleasent experience of seeing their name morph to a French version, changed by a data entry clerk at the license bureau, the government or credit card company.
Many of us whose name is Allan, George or Mary, etc. have had documents show up in our mailbox with our name changed to the French version of Alain,' 'Georges' or 'Marie.' It isn't really deliberate, just a data entry error made by a clerk making a bad correction in good faith. But it is annoying and hard to correct.
It seems that we take great exception to having our name trifled with and I imagine that international companies are not keen to have their name or trademark changed as well.
Companies like 'Foot Locker" operate stores around the world (even in France) under the same trademark and corporate name and are loathe to change because the OQLF tells them to do so.

Most of these offending multinationals do a fantastic job at adapting to the local marketplace, providing a complete service in French. All packaging and instructions are provided in French and the additional costs involved for the translation, by the way, is passed on to Canadians across the country, as prices are generally held at the same level in all Canadian stores, in the same way that Anglophone Canadians pay the majority of the costs for dubbing of English movies into French.
Such is the cost of a 'bilingual' country, but I digress.

Here's a translation of an interesting article from Hebdo Rive-Nord last April, by Kassandra Martel, which sort of sums up the whole situation. Read the original story in French

UPS Store or Boutique UPS?
The opening a UPS Store on Brien boulevard has become controversial because of its entirely English name. The Société Saint-Jean-Baptiste (SSJB) opposes the English signage.

"It's not the fact that UPS opened a branch that bothers us, but rather that the entire signage is in English which shocks us," says Claude Richard, active member of the SSJB Section Pierre Le- Gardeur. That's what prompted the association to send a letter to UPS and to hold a small demonstration.

In the past, the SSJB had acted the same way with companies like Second Cup, Shoppers Drug Mart, Staples and others. These companies have changed their name to
'Les cafés Second cup,' 'Pharmaprix' and 'Bureau en gros.' But there are some companes that  want nothing to do with name changes while others make partial or complete changes, "says Richard.

Claudine Belasky, a Repentigny  native is proud of his store, and says that while the trademark is in English, the remaining display and service, is in French. "For the owner of the franchise in Quebec, David Decker, a French-speaking Quebecker, it is important to serve the people in their own language. The name 'The UPS Store' is just a trademark. "

He is proud to have invested in his hometown and finds the reaction of the  SSJB
deplorable. "My first customer came in here saying-" God listened to me: Finally a UPS store." He said this because the  closest locations are in Laval or Montreal."  In addition, the SSJB   sent him a threatening letter, accusing him of not respecting its citizens. "This letter is addressed to me personally, even though we are two owners," He complains.

Tuesday, 21 protesters were outside 'The UPS Store' to advocate for more use of French.

The SSJB. Section-Pierre Le-Gardeur, supported by the
Mouvement Montréal français, demonstrated in the parking lot in front of the branch in Repentigny. Several slogans were hurled by demonstrators,  demanding more use of French.

As before, the SSJB, through Claude Richard, claims it will continue the protests. "If they do not respond, there will be other events," declared Richard.
The isn't going to become "Magasin des colis unifiés" (direct French translation-.ed)
According to the head office in Montreal, there's no need to see a change in the name of the store. The UPS Store said that it was  aware of its rights and that the company isn't violating any law. The trademark required a lot of investment and the English name does not affect anything.
Scott McKay, PQ MNA for L'Assomption MRC, was indignant. In his letter to the company, he writes: "By choosing to display the name of 'The UPS Store,' you show a blatant lack of consideration for the French character of our society and you create an unacceptable affront . "The MP added:" You missed a good opportunity to show interest in your customers. "The Parti Quebecois (PQ) laments the imminent decline from French to English names. This creates, according to the PQ, a problem that must be addressed. Scott McKay clarified: "We cannot address this through modifications in Bill 101, as trade names are governed by an international agreement. We must therefore turn to popular pressure. I have decided to boycott The UPS Store and I call on all people of Repentigny, to do the same "said Mr. McKay.

In 1977,  Bill 101 made French the official language of the state. This law established that French be the language of commercial signs.
And so, does an English name like this contravene the law?
According to the
Office québécois de la langue française (OQLF), there is no violation of the law, if the company name is recorded in English at the Office of Intellectual Property of Canada. "The name becomes a registered trademark and it becomes a business decision  by the company to translate it or not," says Martin Bergeron, spokesperson for the OQLF.
And so today, mindful of the law, the OQLF is mounting a new and different initiative, which for want of a better term I have dubbed the 'SECOND CUP' rule.
Back in the 1981, The Second Cup coffee chain was harassed by the OLF (as the language board was known in those days), language militants and even ex-FLQ terrorists demanding that the name be changed to something more French. Three shops were actually bombed by militants over the issue and one activist was sentenced to jail for nine years.
In the end the company agreed to call its Quebec stores by the more acceptable "Les cafés Second Cup" and so the 'modifier rule, or the 'Second Cup rule' was born.
This means that English sounding store names required a French modifier either before or after the English, in order to make it more respectful of the French majority.

As the old Mary Poppins song says: "A Spoonful of Sugar Helps the Medicine Go Down"

And Presto, a hybrid is born- 'Lunetterie' New Look, 'Rôtisseries' Scores and 'Farine' Five Roses, for example.

For the OQLF, gone is the old plan to get companies to convert their names to French as in changing the APPLE STORE into the MAGASIN POMME.

Today the OQLF  is trying to get stores with English appellations to add French modifiers. Sometimes the results are barely perceptible as in the examples above, sometimes not.
Adding the word MAGASIN to the 'The UPS Store'  is a bit silly and redundant.
What can be added to HOME DEPOT and FUTURE SHOP to make it more acceptable? 

Reaction to the OQLF initiative by consumers has been decidedly negative and in many cases surprisingly sarcastic, judging by the comments under stories featured in French online media.

Next week I'm going to share with readers some samples of the more interesting comments. It's actually worth a whole post!

Note to readers;
For those of you who consider the title of this piece a bit redundant, it is a tribute to the great Yankee catcher and manager Yogi Berra who coined the phrase "It's like déjà vu all over again."  For a chuckle and a good read, go over to this page to see some of the great quotes he came up with like "It ain't over, til it's over," most of them blurted out inadvertently.

HAVE A GOOD WEEKEND- SEE YOU MONDAY!

40 comments:

  1. That will never happen as trademarks are NOT a Provincial matter.

    ReplyDelete
  2. [Place a moan and a sigh here]. The late U.S. President Reagan also had a saying: "There [they] go again!"

    "They", of course, is the OQLF. Will wonders in Quebec ever cease? I left Quebec in large part because of this language nonsense, not to mention the incompetence and corruption of Quebec society where organized crime runs free as a bird. Language seems to have priority over falling bridges and other infrastructure.

    I was hoping the expiry of Bill 178 would have put this lunacy to bed once and for all, but when I left Quebec for good in late 1984, I knew I made the right decision. Bill 178 proved it once and for all, but then the Bill 104 fiasco put the icing on the cake and now this swift move by the ugly bulldog in charge of this fascist arm of the Quebec government has decided to put a slew of those silver candy ball bearings on the icing. Wasn't the icing enough?

    A short time ago I watched Lloyd Robertson's final broadcast of the CTV National News. Over this last week, Lloyd reminisced about the biggest news stories to him over the last 35 years with CTV. One of the stories that was high impact was the 1995 Referendum. In his closing remarks near the end of the broadcast, Lloyd did remark about his relief the country has stayed whole.

    Given my drathers, I honestly do share Lloyd's sentiments, but having lived those last ten years that I did in Quebec made my decision clear. I could not accept being a second class citizen in the place where I was born, raised and educated. I could not stand the revisionist history that I was being villified simply because I wasn't one of "them", i.e., all of deep-rooted white, Roman Catholic and French mother-tongued. The true enemies were the Roman Catholic church and despotic political and religious leaders, namely Maurice Duplessis and Lionel Groulx, but others as well.

    I've stated time and time and time again that my ascendents who came to Quebec almost a century ago employed themselves and others, at times almost losing everything they had. Their hard work, determination and risk-taking contributed to the greater good of Quebec, and Bills 22, 101, 178, 104 and the debacles from that last law show the blatant ingratitude Quebec society has towards those who made Quebec a better place. Why? Because they weren't the major players largely responsible for that improvement. I can't help the fact their Church promoted and advocated proletarianism.

    Quebec society has been duped, led astray by bad influences away from its minorities. Duplessis and Groulx are living proof. 200 years of being duped finally ended with the Quiet Revolution of the 1960s, and now it has taken about 20 years to realize they were badly led astray again by the leadership in da Bloc Québécois. So how do they react? They vote for a guy who's now dead, but ran a suck-and-blow campaign that will inevitably burn them yet again.

    Quebec can't win, Quebec doesn't know how to win. Québec sait faire? NOT! From all this, I think Canada would be better off without Quebec. A sad reality, but history and the facts speak for themselves. Since it is Quebec that insists on dubbed films (that suck anyway), it is they who should pay for those services, not those of us outside Quebec who couldn't care less.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I can't agree with you more!! I am fed up and seriously thinking of leaving Quebec.Quebec libre my @SS!! Quebec is still part of CANADA ( like it or not!!) and don't we have freedom of speech anymore?? Or rights. I speak 5 languages and i am proud to do so. I don't get it. English is an international language.Quebecers who only know french are just lazy and vice versa . I am a PROUD CANADIAN

      Delete
  3. "Companies like 'Foot Locker" operate stores around the world (even in France) under the same trademark..."

    Réfléchissez un peu.Est-ce que la France baigne dans une mer anglophone?L'anglais pour eux,c'est exotique et ne se sentent aucunement menacés(pour l'instant).

    Réduisez leur démographie a 7 M et plongez les dans une mer homogène de 350,000,000 d'anglophones et je vous assure qu'ils trouveront votre langue un peu moins amusante.

    ReplyDelete
  4. "Réduisez leur démographie a 7 M et plongez les dans une mer homogène de 350,000,000 d'anglophones et je vous assure qu'ils trouveront votre langue un peu moins amusante."

    No, the people in France are simply not as paranoid as the language zealots in Quebec. Simple as that. One more time, if a language needs laws which discriminate against other languages to support its continued existence, it is likely doomed.

    ReplyDelete
  5. "...if a language needs laws which discriminate against other languages to support its continued existence, it is likely doomed."

    Ha oui!Regardez-donc ceci:

    http://www.theatlantic.com/past/docs/issues/97apr/english.htm

    ReplyDelete
  6. Just a quick comment, Staples is not Office Depot. The companies tried to merge in the 90s, but the FTC denied the motion.

    ReplyDelete
  7. ...not only that. Here we are not in France, we are in Canada.
    In France, anyway, you will find a lot of English signs, but nobody feels threatened, simply because French have a solid identity and a well-established self-esteem.They are sure of what they are. Quebekuo', of course, are another story or another joke..
    A suggestion: stop comparing yourselves with French and France, as you have nothing in common with them.
    By the way: how much do this OQLF and its outrageous childish activties cost to Canada?

    WESTALLOPHONE++

    ReplyDelete
  8. Hé westy le clown,si tu lisais le texte de ton éditeur préféré,tu comprendrais que c'est lui qui a amené la France comme sujet...Ajuste tes lunettes vieux con!

    "Companies like 'Foot Locker" operate stores around the world (even in France) under the same trademark..."

    Aussi,Les Français commencents a trouver que les anglos prennent un peu trop de place.

    ReplyDelete
  9. "...but nobody feels threatened, simply because French have a solid identity and a well-established self-esteem..."

    Ils sont 70 000 000 en Europe pas 7 M en Amérique!Rien a voir voir avec l'estime de soi.
    Si nous n'avions pas de respect envers nous-même,nous laisserions les anglos s'afficher librement...comme en France.Bang!

    Non mais,quel idiot!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Protecting language is the equivalent of protecting religion: stupid.

    I guess the racist language police need to justify their budgets.

    If they want to enforce fascist laws, why don't they start with things made by the french people here?
    "Loft Story". This is an appropriate name for a french tv show? I wonder if a complaint to the OLF about that would be taken seriously..

    I hope they were just trying to make themselves look useful, because if they actually start making more companies change their name, I'm going to seriously start considering moving out of this province.

    "Réfléchissez un peu.Est-ce que la France baigne dans une mer anglophone?L'anglais pour eux,c'est exotique et ne se sentent aucunement menacés(pour l'instant)."

    That is hilarious. You know that france isn't an island? And it's surrounded by countries that all have different languages. Their language is threatened much more than ours.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Stephen Harpon/Press 9:

    The statement that you quoted from Editor about France actually supports West Allophone's argument that the French are not to be compared with the Quebecois. So you're not making any sense, but this could be due to your lack of understanding of the English language.

    ReplyDelete
  12. "...but this could be due to your lack of understanding of the English language."

    Je comprend assez bien l'anglais,mais j'avoue que c'est la mentalité qui m'échappe :)

    Et vous?Comment auto-évaluez-vous votre propre capacité a décoder les subtilités de notre complexe langage?

    Selon ma perception : 3/10

    ReplyDelete
  13. @ Stephen Harpon:

    J'ai vécu en France pendant quelque temps et je peux te confirmer qu'il y a relativement peu d'anglophones sur le territoire Français (ironiquement, il y a des "pockets" Britanniques et Américaines dans l'ouest de Paris, c'est tout). L'affichage et la publicité en Anglais en France c'est juste un outil de communication pour attirer les jeunes, rien de plus.

    Après si tu veux insulter les gens de "vieux cons", c 'est ton problème mais tu sonnes vraiment comme un gros hillbilly.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Press 9: "Je comprend assez bien l'anglais,"

    Not good enough to contribute anything of value to this forum.

    ReplyDelete
  15. "Après si tu veux insulter les gens de "vieux cons" "

    Désolé,je voulais dire vieil ostie de raciste.
    Avec ce qu'il écrit a notre sujet,j'espère qu'il ne s'attend pas a recevoir des fleurs.

    "c 'est ton problème..."

    Tout a fait d'accord!

    "mais tu sonnes vraiment comme un gros hillbilly."

    No problemo!

    ReplyDelete
  16. "Je comprend assez bien l'anglais".

    Maybe, but your French sucks at 100% ("Je comprendS, tu comprendS, il-elle comprend...")

    WESTALLOPHONE++

    ReplyDelete
  17. "Réfléchissez un peu.Est-ce que la France baigne dans une mer anglophone?L'anglais pour eux,c'est exotique et ne se sentent aucunement menacés(pour l'instant)"

    Oh shut up already with your xenophobic spew you've brainwashed into thinking and saying, with your mantra "Oh no -- we're surrounded by a sea of English!". Imagine if I proclaimed I was surrounded by a sea of blacks or Jews, and my culture was threatened and needed to be protected at all costs. Doesn't sound good, doesn't it? Doesn't matter WHAT you're surrounded by, saying person x/y/z threatens your culture because there's more of them than you is RACIST AND XENOPHOBIC.

    You're culture is not threatened. Stop hiding behind thinly veiled excuses for what you really made: We hate English persons -- you're different and therefore not welcome here.

    And speaking of being surrounded by a sea, because of what you've done, Quebec is now a sea of merde! Thanks for your contribution.

    ReplyDelete
  18. @Lord Relish

    Vous confondez race et langue.C'est pour cette raison que vous ne saisissez pas les enjeux.
    Dommage pour vous mais ces entreprises devront se conformer a la loi.Faites donc comme le colonel Sanders.

    KFC---PFK(chicken dance),c'est mieux,non?

    ReplyDelete
  19. Here we go again. If you don't like the way a business operates, don't shop there. It's a free market. All these companies employ francophones and offer service in french. Apparently that's not good enough, they need to re-brand themselves for these bloodsuckers in the government. Finally, Montreal is showing some sign of progress with construction cranes popping up all over the city and what do they do? They wheel out this dead stinking carcass that is the OQLF. As for the "surrounded by a sea of Anglophones" argument, stop it. Its getting old.

    ReplyDelete
  20. Yea that I can't understand either. The OQLF is a an archaic dinosaur that is completely useless in today's Quebec society. The French language is here to stay.

    "They wheel out this dead stinking carcass that is the OQLF. As for the "surrounded by a sea of Anglophones" argument, stop it. Its getting old."

    ReplyDelete
  21. Lord British: "Imagine if I proclaimed I was surrounded by a sea of blacks or Jews, and my culture was threatened and needed to be protected at all costs."

    ...and you'd argue that the only way to deal with it is to remove any traces of the African American and Jewish culture from your surroundings. That would basically be the argument equivalent of the one that the Quebecois invoke.

    Except that:
    1. Can you really prove that your culture is in danger, just by citing historical precedents (Louisiana, New England)? No. No matter how close the situations may compare, they prove nothing about the future.
    2. Even if something could be proven, what on earth gives you the right to think that your culture is so special that it justifies all the harsh measures to save it?
    3. If your language is indeed in danger, how can you claim it's close to extinction if it is spoken in a few other parts of the world, including a European country with population of 60 million?

    I think I just shredded the main seppie argument right here right now.

    ReplyDelete
  22. I think PQ MNA Scott "McKay" should be forced to change his name to a French one!!!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  23. "the right to think that your culture is so special that it justifies all the harsh measures to save it?"

    C'est pas que notre culture est spéciale,le problème vient du fait que le canada n'en a pas.
    Avez-vous déja entendu parler de culture canadienne?

    Pauvres anglos:Citoyens de deuxième classe au Québec et de deuxième ou même troisième classe aux É-U.

    Percevez-vous la nuance petit génie?

    ReplyDelete
  24. @ Press 9:

    You just admitted the Québecois culture isn't special ... Am I dreaming?

    ReplyDelete
  25. @PHIL

    Spécial dans le sens ou nous pourrions facilement continuer a avoir une vie culturelle sans les anglos.Nous consommons presque exclusivement nos propres produits culturels :Télé,cinéma,littérature,théâtre,radios,etc.

    ReplyDelete
  26. @Press 9

    Might be valid for older consumers in rural areas. But for the 13-40 age range: hell no! The young Quebecois love the American star system, go to any movie theater in downtown Montreal; you'll see a lot of young (and not so young) Francophones waiting in line for the latest US blockbuster.

    "Nous consommons presque exclusivement nos propres produits culturels :Télé,cinéma,littérature,théâtre,radios,etc."

    ReplyDelete
  27. > Ha oui!Regardez-donc ceci: http://www.theatlantic.com/past/docs/issues/97apr/english.htm

    I’m actually really glad you referred to that article because the author there makes several excellent points that I share and cites specific patterns I am concerned about. Namely:

    “History teaches a plain lesson about language and governments: there is almost nothing the government of a free country can do to force its citizens to use certain languages in preference to others.”

    “In 1987 U.S. English installed as its president Linda Chávez, a Hispanic who had been prominent in the Reagan Administration. A year later she resigned her position, citing "repugnant" and "anti-Hispanic" overtones in an internal memorandum written by Tanton.”

    “Any language bill will face tough odds in the Senate, because some western senators have opposed English Only measures in the past for various reasons, among them a desire by Republicans not to alienate the growing number of Hispanic Republicans, most of whom are uncomfortable with mandated monolingualism.”

    “Never in the heyday of rule by sovereign was it a condition of employment that the King be able to speak the language of his subjects. George I spoke no English and spent much of his time away from England, attempting to use the power of his kingship to shore up his German possessions […]”

    “The marriage of language and nationalism goes back at least to Romanticism and specifically to Rousseau, who argued in his Essay on the Origin of Languages that language must develop before politics is possible and that language originally distinguished nations from one another. A little-remembered aim of the French Revolution -- itself the legacy of Rousseau -- was to impose a national language on France, where regional languages such as Provençal, Breton, and Basque were still strong competitors against standard French, the French of the Ile de France.”

    “Arnold Toynbee observed -- unhappily -- soon after the First World War that ‘the growing consciousness of Nationality had attached itself neither to traditional frontiers nor to new geographical associations but almost exclusively to mother tongues.’”

    ReplyDelete
  28. (...continued)

    “Language is a convenient surrogate for nonlinguistic claims that are often awkward to articulate, for they amount to a demand for more political and economic power.”

    “Slovakia, relieved now of the need to accommodate to Czech cosmopolitan sensibilities, has passed a law making Slovak its official language […] Language inspectors are told to weed out "all sins perpetrated on the regular Slovak language." Tensions between Slovaks and Hungarians, who had been getting along, have begun to arise.”

    “Unique otherness immunizes countries against linguistic destabilization.”

    “Language, as one linguist has said, is "not primarily a means of communication but a means of communion." Romanticism exalted language, made it mystical, sublime -- a bond of national identity. At the same time, Romanticism created a monster: it made of language a means for destroying a country.”

    “America has that unique otherness of which I spoke. In spite of all our racial divisions and economic unfairness, we have the frontier tradition, respect for the individual, and opportunity; we have our love affair with the automobile; we have in our history a civil war that freed the slaves and was fought with valor; and we have sports, hot dogs, hamburgers, and milk shakes -- things big and small, noble and petty, important and trifling. ‘We are Americans; we are different.’”

    “We are not even close to the danger point. I suggest that we relax and luxuriate in our linguistic richness and our traditional tolerance of language differences. Language does not threaten American unity. Benign neglect is a good policy for any country when it comes to language, and it's a good policy for America.”

    ReplyDelete
  29. > Ha oui!Regardez-donc ceci: http://www.theatlantic.com/past/docs/issues/97apr/english.htm

    I’m actually really glad you referred to that article because the author there makes several excellent points that I share and cites specific patterns I am concerned about. Namely:

    “History teaches a plain lesson about language and governments: there is almost nothing the government of a free country can do to force its citizens to use certain languages in preference to others.”

    “In 1987 U.S. English installed as its president Linda Chávez, a Hispanic who had been prominent in the Reagan Administration. A year later she resigned her position, citing "repugnant" and "anti-Hispanic" overtones in an internal memorandum written by Tanton.”

    “Any language bill will face tough odds in the Senate, because some western senators have opposed English Only measures in the past for various reasons, among them a desire by Republicans not to alienate the growing number of Hispanic Republicans, most of whom are uncomfortable with mandated monolingualism.”

    “Never in the heyday of rule by sovereign was it a condition of employment that the King be able to speak the language of his subjects. George I spoke no English and spent much of his time away from England, attempting to use the power of his kingship to shore up his German possessions […]”

    “The marriage of language and nationalism goes back at least to Romanticism and specifically to Rousseau, who argued in his Essay on the Origin of Languages that language must develop before politics is possible and that language originally distinguished nations from one another. A little-remembered aim of the French Revolution -- itself the legacy of Rousseau -- was to impose a national language on France, where regional languages such as Provençal, Breton, and Basque were still strong competitors against standard French, the French of the Ile de France.”

    “Arnold Toynbee observed -- unhappily -- soon after the First World War that ‘the growing consciousness of Nationality had attached itself neither to traditional frontiers nor to new geographical associations but almost exclusively to mother tongues.’”

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  30. ... again I ask you, does this SSJB "intervention" just east of Montreal suggest that other names like "Le Chateau" and thousands of posh French restaurants with French names around the world should be re-named in deference to local sensitivities?

    I call bullshit on you, nationalism.

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  31. French has 85 000 words

    English has 850 000 words

    why defend an inferior language?

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  32. @shakespeare

    " why defend an inferior language? "

    Globish :15 000 mots.

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  33. Ha come on : it's pretty much impossible to count the number of words in a "language". For example: "hot dog" ... this term is used in both Quebec and France. Is it a French word? Language purists might say no, however the "average Jean" use the word on a regular basis.

    What about "Stop"? It's a word that's mostly associated with traffic signs in English Canada. However it really is a French word that originated in France.

    "French has 85 000 words

    English has 850 000 words

    why defend an inferior language?"

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  34. > French has 85 000 words / English has 850 000 words [...]

    ... and most common yokels probably know between 2000 and 4000 words in either language.

    How many people militating for linguistic purism are truly concerned about their respective language's erudition? Given the rants I read and hear (in both English and French), comparatively few, among the totality of complainants...

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  35. @ Press 9:

    "C'est pas que notre culture est spéciale,le problème vient du fait que le canada n'en a pas.
    Avez-vous déja entendu parler de culture canadienne?"

    English Canada has a distinct culture, which was on display at the Winter Olympics last year in Vancouver. Francophones complained about the lack of French acts at the opening and closing ceremonies, but it really wasn't necessary to have any Quebecois acts at all. Most of the English Canadian performers were well-known worldwide, but few people outside of Quebec knew who the hell the French acts were.

    Quebecois culture is really just a mish mash, hodge podge copy of other cultures in Joual slang.

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  36. "English Canada has a distinct culture..."

    C'est nouveau,car plusieurs sonr d'avis que le canada n'est qu'un melting pot indéfinissable sur le plan identitaire et totalement dépendant de son voisin américain sur le plan culturel.

    J'aimerais bien connaître les éléments distinctifs auxquels vous faites allusion.
    En passant votre hymne national et votre drapeau ont été volés aux Québécois.

    Pauvres canayens,totalement dépourvus d'originalité et de créativité.

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  37. > C'est nouveau,car plusieurs sonr d'avis que le canada n'est qu'un melting pot indéfinissable sur le plan identitaire et totalement dépendant de son voisin américain sur le plan culturel.

    D’abord, est-ce tellement difficile à croire qu’une certaine affiliation culturelle existe entre Anglo-Canadiens et Américains? Pendant une période importante de son histoire, le Canada a accueilli des Loyalistes venus des É.-U. Ceux-ci ont établi plusieurs colonies dans les Cantons de l’Est et en ce qui deviendrait l’Ontario. On doit d’ailleurs notre prononciation de l’anglais à ces premiers Loyalistes plutôt qu’aux autres immigrants « British » venus plus tard des îles Britanniques. Outre notre proximité géographique, on jouit de relations commerciales, culturelles, et militaires établies depuis très longtemps. Faut-il une « identité », un gabarit nourri d’expériences légendaires pour se définir, pour parler de « culture »?

    L’Amérique du Nord a certes plusieurs cultures « régionales », mais comme le continent est grand et qu’il n’abrite pas des douzaines de pays, est-il si grave de ne pas avoir des frontières strictement définies qui délimitent les mangeurs de choucroute des mangeurs de baguette?

    L’attribut Québécois si chéri des nationalistes, notre chère langue française, n’est qu’une différence comparativement cosmétique quand on considère à quel point nos comportements, stéréotypes, institutions et valeurs font de notre culture un bel exemple d’une culture régionale Nord-Américaine.

    Si on doit mettre exagérer l’effet de parler une langue pourtant si reliée à l’anglais pour se justifier une culture, une différence, il me semble qu’on s’y prend du mauvais bord.

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  38. "...notre chère langue française, n’est qu’une différence comparativement cosmétique quand on considère à quel point nos comportements, stéréotypes, institutions et valeurs font de notre culture un bel..."

    Alors apprenons l'anglais et devenons totalement américain.Allez!Il ne reste qu'un petit pas a franchir...Une fois que nous serons bilingue dans le contexte Nord américain,a quoi nous servira le français dans une,deux ou trois générations?

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  39. Pas d'accord avec toi. Parler anglais n'est pas en soi un trait exclusivement "américain". Il me parait tout à fait normal et souhaitable que les Québécois puissent s'exprimer couramment dans la langue principale des échanges de leur continent.

    Avec notre sirop d'érable, notre poutine, notre histoire, notre tradition sociale démocrate, et des douzaines d'autres repères (y compris notre langue), notre culture régionale n'a finalement rien de tellement différent qu'on doive se tenir à l'écart du reste.

    Et même dans ce contexte, le français n'a pas à devenir chose inutile. On continuera à parler français parce qu'on voudra bien. L'ennemi du fait français au Canada ce n'est pas l'affichage bilingue (nos produits commerciaux sont étiquetés bilingues depuis des décennies!).

    Nos coutumes langagières devraient suffire pour garder notre langue en vie (elles ont suffi à maintenir notre dominance démographique de 1759 à 1977, n'est-ce pas?). Le bilinguisme n'a pas à servir de passerelle vers l'unilinguisme éventuel; bien qu'on puisse citer le modèle traditionnel d'immigration nord-américain ou bien la francisation en Bruxelles à contre-exemple, on retrouve aussi des scénarios plus encourageants tels l'Inde, Hong Kong (ère coloniale) et la Suisse où une politique multilingue n'a pas fini par tuer ni par déplacer la langue maternelle des habitants.

    Les Québécois ne sont pas nuls au point où ils peuvent accepter l'étiquetage mais non l'affichage bilingue. La proximité et le poids démographique des anglos qui nous entourent ne doit pas en soi nous décourager d'être de célébrer et de vivre pleinement notre langue.

    Ceux qui s'installent chez nous comprennent, au bout d'une génération ou deux, que pour vivre pleinement dans une société majoritairement française au coeur de l'Amérique du Nord anglophone, il faut finir par devenir parfaitement bilingue. Cessons de nous (et de leur) raconter des histoires de primauté et de suprématie culturelle et linguistique.

    Si nous francophones croyons si peu à l'utilité, au charme, et au pouvoir d'attraction de notre langue, peut-être notre insécurité serait-elle le vrai problème et non le poids démographique de nos voisins anglos...

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