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Candians and French | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages |  | |
| Luigi Diglot Senior Member Italy Joined 6941 days ago 113 posts - 135 votes  Speaks: Italian*, English Studies: German, Russian | Message 1 of 56 17 April 2007 at 3:22pm | IP Logged | |||||
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I know French is one of the two official languages in Canada and that's the most spoken language in Quebec.
I used to think that every canadian knew at least a little French; yet, I've noticed that French is not always on the languages list of many canadians who post in this forum. So, I suppose now that French is not so essential in Canada, and that, leaving out Quebec, it is even possible to live in that beautiful country without speaking any French. Am I wrong? Thank you in advance for your replies. Edited by Luigi on 17 April 2007 at 3:24pm 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Sprachprofi Nonaglot Senior Member Germany learnlangs.comRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 6471 days ago 2608 posts - 4866 votes Speaks: German*, English, French, Esperanto, Greek, Mandarin, Latin, Dutch, Italian Studies: Spanish, Arabic (Written), Swahili, Indonesian, Japanese, Modern Hebrew, Portuguese | Message 2 of 56 17 April 2007 at 3:36pm | IP Logged | |||||
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Definitely. Quebec is the only province with a vast majority of French speakers. If I recall correctly, New Brunswick still has about 55% French speakers but all the other provinces as you go west have less than 6% French speakers. English Canadians are required to learn French at school, but many don't remember much of their classes. Unlike in Belgium, Canadian bilingualism is in most areas restricted to products and TV. Edited by Sprachprofi on 17 April 2007 at 3:37pm 4 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| Malcolm Triglot Retired Moderator Senior Member Korea, South Joined 7316 days ago 500 posts - 515 votes 5 sounds Speaks: English*, Spanish, Korean Studies: Mandarin, Japanese, Latin | Message 3 of 56 17 April 2007 at 3:49pm | IP Logged | |||||
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I almost never hear French here in Toronto, and most of my friends born and raised here know zero French, aside from a few greetings. We are required to take a few years of French in school, but most of the students have no interest in the language and don't retain anything. The only French I encounter here is on labels and official documents. I won't speak for the rest of Canada, but I can safely say that French is not useful in Toronto.
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| justinwilliams Diglot Senior Member Canada Joined 6690 days ago 321 posts - 327 votes 3 sounds Speaks: French*, EnglishC2 Studies: German, Italian | Message 4 of 56 17 April 2007 at 5:10pm | IP Logged | |||||
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The native French population outside Quebec and New Brunswick is around 3% almost everywhere and that doesn't mean that they don't speak English too!
There are some little communities in Nova Scotia, northern Ontario and Manitoba that still use French as their main language and I honestly don't see the point since those people are all bilingual and that the French they speak is, as far as I know, only locally understood. New Brunswick does have a vivid French community that I think is growing due to certain legislation and to the fact that many English speakers from Moncton choose to flee because French is always required to get hired. But I think that French outside Quebec and New Brunswick is doomed to come extinct sooner or later. I hope to be able to continue living in English in Montreal. I chose a 90% English neighborhood which is not a good way to make friends amongst my fellow quebeckers but...I know where I want to go and I'll get there. I see quite a few French people everyday at work but they're all from Quebec either in vacation or on a 3month contract. I probably meet many more Acadian French speakers but their English is as English as it could be so unless they get their receipt printed off in French there's no way I could find out. I'm quite harsh on my native language but I do think quebeckers should get tenfold the time of English lessons they currently get instead of teaching French to every Canadian which is very likely to be useless. Bottom line, if you're goal is to live in Canada, learn English not French unless you're aiming at Montreal, Quebec or Moncton! 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| jhowardall Newbie Canada Joined 6691 days ago 10 posts - 10 votes Speaks: English* | Message 5 of 56 18 April 2007 at 12:36am | IP Logged | |||||
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I've lived half my life in Alberta and half in Ontario, and essentially nobody at all here speaks French fluently. There are obviously a few people here and there, those that lived in Quebec or studied it in school and became fluent, but not many. In certain provinces such as Ontario, it is required for students to study French up until grade 9 or so I believe, but the level of teaching is poor and you really don't learn anything at all from it. I grew up in Alberta and there is no French in school other than some which offer it as an optional course.
Quebec and parts of New Brunswick are the only places in Canada where significant number of people speak French. Anywhere else, you won't find your perfect French to be of much use at all. English is certainly more widespread. In Montreal, there is a large native English speaking community and most of those who are native French speakers also speak English. In a place like Quebec City, fewer speak English but you'll not have any problem getting by as a tourist with English. The only places where you'd have difficulty getting by in English are the more rural areas, small towns, a place up north like Saguenay, the areas where seperatist support is up there. So in simplest terms, in most of the country outside of Quebec, French is most certainly not required and furthermore would be essentially useless in terms of conversing with people in almost all cases. The government likes to push the idea that we're truly a bilingual nation, but it's really not true. Outside of the areas where its spoken natively, finding someone who speaks French will be quite difficult for you. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| justinwilliams Diglot Senior Member Canada Joined 6690 days ago 321 posts - 327 votes 3 sounds Speaks: French*, EnglishC2 Studies: German, Italian | Message 6 of 56 18 April 2007 at 9:49am | IP Logged | |||||
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Little anecdote: During the last census, there was a rumor in Quebec. People said that if you too many people were to write they had English as a first language the government would suppress all French services across the country.
And people were silly enough to believe that! Just imagine the mayhem that would create! I did write English, just in case it'd be true! The opposite is also very true. French speakers suck at English too. You always have the choice on official papers to get them either in French or in English and of course I always choose English. So, when I got to the bank with my English papers the woman started ranting at how stupid they were to send me papers in English. I let her rant and then told her I'd ordered them! In the end, I had to tell her where to sign, what to write where...And the form is the same, it's just written signature instead of signature! P.S. Most of the labels and documentation for products is translated using either automatic translators or pathetic human translator. Even if you don't know English, you seldom have to rely on the original version to fathom the whole thing. Some products from big companies are alright but other than that I wouldn't try to play with the house electrical system reading French instructions! Edited by justinwilliams on 18 April 2007 at 9:50am 2 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| Volte Tetraglot Senior Member Switzerland Joined 6440 days ago 4474 posts - 6726 votes Speaks: English*, Esperanto, German, Italian Studies: French, Finnish, Mandarin, Japanese | Message 7 of 56 18 April 2007 at 10:22am | IP Logged | |||||
I lived in Alberta for 11 of my first 13 years, and had to take French in grades 3, 5, and 6 (usually, it was grades 4, 5, and 6, but I wasn't in Canada for grade 4, and I was in a combined grade 3 and 4 class, so we all had to take French.) In junior high (grades 7-9) it was optional; I dropped it like a hot potato. At the end of 3 years of elementary school French, I knew a few words, like 'plume' (feather or pen), and 'neige' (snow), but despite the somewhat grammatical focus, I couldn't conjugate the present of 'avoir' (to have) - and I passed French all 3 years despite this. I have to agree with jhowardall that the level of teaching is extremely poor. It seriously put me off languages for years, and it's only now that I'm in university that I've been willing to even consider studying French again.
French is useful for getting points on the immigration assessments, etc, if you want to immigrate, but I agree that it's conversationally nearly useless in most parts of Canada. 3 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| edwin Triglot Senior Member Canada towerofconfusi&Registered users can see my Skype Name Joined 6465 days ago 160 posts - 183 votes 9 sounds Speaks: Cantonese*, English, Mandarin Studies: French, Spanish, Portuguese | Message 8 of 56 18 April 2007 at 12:29pm | IP Logged | |||||
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I live in Toronto, and I am picking up French right now. I have no problem finding the Chinese, Korean, Indian, Italian, Russian, Greek communities. But I find it very hard to find a French community around.
I always wonder how much we have wasted having French documents, as well as labels and instructions printed on products. No one really read them outside Quebec. The ATMs in where I live now don't have French displays. They have 2 or 3 other languages besides English. But I can feel that French remains something important for parents. There are notable French schools in Toronto. Parents are also pleased if a Montessori school would offer French lessons for their kids. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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