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French in Quebec - getting all alarmy | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages |  | |
| Spanky Senior Member Canada Joined 5956 days ago 1021 posts - 1714 votes  Studies: French | Message 1 of 10 13 September 2011 at 4:04am | IP Logged | ||
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For anyone who may be interested in Canada's greatest internal debate outside of the sphere of hockey, an update about the state of French in Quebec.
Getting all alarmy - Montreal Gazette article Edited by Spanky on 13 September 2011 at 4:14am 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Arekkusu Hexaglot Senior Member Canada bit.ly/qc_10_lec Joined 5381 days ago 3971 posts - 7747 votes Speaks: English, French*, GermanC1, Spanish, Japanese, Esperanto Studies: Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Estonian | Message 2 of 10 13 September 2011 at 5:13am | IP Logged | ||
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Here is a less biased French version of the news.
http://www.cyberpresse.ca/actualites/regional/montreal/20110 9/09/01-4433299-montreal-les- francophones-minoritaires-en-2031.php 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Zwlth Super Polyglot Senior Member United States Joined 5226 days ago 154 posts - 320 votes Speaks: English*, German, Italian, Spanish, Russian, Arabic (Written), Dutch, Swedish, Portuguese, Latin, French, Persian, Greek | Message 3 of 10 13 September 2011 at 5:28am | IP Logged | ||
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I know it is not quite on topic, but could you possibly recommend any good French Canadian narrators of audio books on litteraureaudio.com or elsewhere?
1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Homogenik Diglot Senior Member Canada Joined 4824 days ago 314 posts - 407 votes Speaks: French*, English Studies: Polish, Mandarin | Message 4 of 10 15 September 2011 at 6:47pm | IP Logged | ||
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That Gazette article really annoyed me. It IS very annoying going to Montreal as a Québécois and dealing with clerks
or waiters who can't speak french (or who pretend they can't, that happens too). It would not happen in any other self-respecting country or region of the world. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| montmorency Diglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 4828 days ago 2371 posts - 3676 votes Speaks: English*, German Studies: Danish, Welsh | Message 5 of 10 15 September 2011 at 7:53pm | IP Logged | ||
I was told (by Flemings) that it used to happen in Brussels (people refusing to speak Flemish in what is officially a bilingual city). I don't know if it still happens, but from what I do hear, Fleming-Francophone relations in Belgium still aren't the greatest. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Spanky Senior Member Canada Joined 5956 days ago 1021 posts - 1714 votes Studies: French | Message 6 of 10 16 September 2011 at 2:36am | IP Logged | ||
Thanks Arekkusu, I had not intended my posting of the Montreal Gazette article to be controversial in any way. While there is always the potential for bias when dealing with the interpretation of poll, sampling or census data, I do not see that either the Gazette article or the La Presse article is more biased than the other. Indeed (and this may mostly just reflect how krappi my French is) it seems to me that the articles are saying the same thing. The difference is that it is only the Gazette article which points out that the finding that by 2031 there will be a less than 50% French speech rate is not as alarming news as it might be once one realizes that five years ago the projection was that this would be achieved by 2021. As noted in the biased Gazette article: "And for a third thing, the prediction that home-language francophones would be in the minority by 2031 is actually more optimistic than the previous prediction by the same demographer who wrote the latest study. In a 2006 study released two years later, Marc Termote predicted a French-speaking minority on Montreal Island by 2021. So in only five years, Termote has given the francophone majority on the island 10 more years." In other words, the trend is toward slower loss of French relative to population (perhaps due to increased uptake of French by allophones and export out of province of those pesky Anglophones), which should be seen as an improvement and cause for celebration for those (like me) that are keen on seeing French language remaining vibrant in Quebec and New Brunswick and elswhere, instead of an occasion only for hand- wringing. Edited by Spanky on 16 September 2011 at 2:43am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Homogenik Diglot Senior Member Canada Joined 4824 days ago 314 posts - 407 votes Speaks: French*, English Studies: Polish, Mandarin | Message 7 of 10 16 September 2011 at 3:04am | IP Logged | ||
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Just to make things clear, I was not annoyed by the information the writer gave in his article but by his tone that I
felt was condescending. The simple fact that the proportion of french speakers in Montreal is so low considering it's the province's official language is appalling and reason for concern. There is a continuing attitude from certain anglophones in the province and country that underplays this reality and that considers those who manifest an interest and worry about the state of the french language in Quebec whiners. Maybe it is true that sometimes Québécois can be a bit defensive, but I think that is understandable considering the fragile geopolitical position the province is in regarding language (surrounded by English speaking provinces and the USA) and considering the poor opinion many have about Québécois french in France. I know this is not true of everyone in France and that many consider it charming and interesting, but many events in the past and the present remind us here in Quebec that we have reason for concern. Anyway, on another topic, I just noticed Assimil had a book on Québécois french, which I thought was pretty funny and a nice recognition. I also saw a similar book from Ulysse (Le Québécois pour mieux voyager). Edited by Homogenik on 16 September 2011 at 3:09am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Arekkusu Hexaglot Senior Member Canada bit.ly/qc_10_lec Joined 5381 days ago 3971 posts - 7747 votes Speaks: English, French*, GermanC1, Spanish, Japanese, Esperanto Studies: Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Estonian | Message 8 of 10 16 September 2011 at 4:41pm | IP Logged | ||
That French will become a minority language in the foreseeable future is a great cause for concern... if you're a French speaker. The Gazette journalist made a point of saying that it's really not that big a deal because it will happen later than we first thought... ergo, "who cares". That's why it sounded biased and the tone was slightly insulting. Anyway, I wouldn't expect anything else from the Gazette. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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