bilingualism in canada. double standard.

Well, here I come.. the Quebec Anglophone LOL Quebec (as a province, rather than a city) hasn't always "been French"... but I do agree that it's a common misconception. (I married an American 3 years ago and, when we met, he was amazed at how "good my English is"... LOL... it's my mother tongue!). I was born here and have lived here my entire life, never leaving the province. Growing up, very few people I knew could speak French. My mom learned enough to "get by" with the neighbors. My paternal grandmother was French and my father couldn't speak a word of it. It just wasn't required. The working world functioned in English. Around 1976, the language issue really heated up and we started to live with the various issues being described in this discussion. The bilingual signs, the schooling requirements, etc. I have to have official documents for each of my daughters that state that I was educated in English and therefore I have the right to have them educated in English. Without those documents, they would have to be enrolled in our local French school board. Thing is, there is no true English schooling now... they are in bilingual school. By the time they graduate high school, they will be fully bilingual. I am bilingual myself but I didn't have nearly the amount of school-provided language instruction that they have now. I learned out of a combination of education and necessity. I do get frustrated here when I can't obtain a service in English. I am perfectly capable of the French language and usually always use it in public places. However, there are times (such as in a hospital, at the doctor, at a notary, lawyer or financial institution...) where I will absolutely insist that I receive service in English. In those cases, I won't take chances at misunderstanding or being misunderstood. Sometimes, it ends up being a lot of "Frenglish" or "Franglais"... a mish-mash of the two languages... but we can all understand each other lol

I agree with you in that nothing should be forced on others. I don't understand why the other provinces should have to be French, too. I mean, it's up to them to learn English if they move to another province just as it's up to someone else to learn French if they move to Quebec. :)

i'm french too it's just the fact that we are expected to change here and not them. i've only spoken to my daughter in english though so now i'm trying to teach her french and she will be attending a french school in the fall. i have to teach her so she will be able to get a good job in the future. i just don't understand why we have to change and they don't. i know they are a french province but now our english province has to be bilingual, but they fight to stay just one language. why force it on us. it doens't bother me that we have to change i just think they should have the same curtosy. thanks for the comments. tell your hubby i'm not complaining about him i love french, it is my first language. lol

if you work for the government or as a nurse, in a museum and some other's that i can't remember it is now mandatory to be bilingual. even the people that were there before the law just passed has to take french classes.

yes lucky for me. i just felt bad for some of my friends. when i was in college for museum studies they told us to work in ontario (where i went to school) that we had to be bilingual to get a job in a museum. only 2 people in my entire course spoke french. that's including me. i was the only person who got a summer job in museums. all my friends ended up moving to a different province to work.

Have you ever been to St. Boniface across the river from Winnipeg? There are thousands of French speakers in Manitoba and in St. Boniface you can obtain every service, hospital, schools, lawyers etc. all in French. So I guess the English only provinces are further West.

i've been to montreal a few times and i have a hard time sometimes cause i've lost a bit of my french. it was my first language. but our french seems a little different than quebec french. i used to do telemarketing in french and call quebec and they had such a hard time understanding me. just a question. are all of your road signs bilingaul there caue i'm getting different info?

Yes, road sign and any kind of sign has to be bilingual. It's the regulations. I ma from New Brunswick, so my French is not the same as the Quebec one. But we can unterdstand each other. Whenever I got tired, I got one of those weid accent... Wacked

What is your mother tongue and regional language, mayshoe? In malaysia, basically we learn two langauges which are malay language and english. In malaysia, we are consist of three majority races which are malay, indian and chinese. Chinese is currently conquering the economy and majority of the big businesses are belong to chinese. Therefore, if you want to get job in big companies, you will have a better chance if you speak mandarin/cantonese/hokkien.

yes you do have to be bilingual in french and english in ontario to get certian jobs. governmetn jobs, nursing, and so many more. they just passed a law about it.

i know lots of quebec people. my first language is french. my family comes from quebec and i know live in ontario. so i know that a lot of quebec people don't know english and even their french is different from the rest of canada. they have a hard time understanding me now that i've picked up bad french grammer from living in ontario so long.