The Quebec government is proposing an increase in tuition fees for international and out-of-province students attending English-language universities as a way to protect the French language.
The Quebec government is proposing an increase in tuition fees for international and out-of-province students attending English-language universities as a way to protect the French language.
I think the issue is disagreement over that mixing. The (as you put it)RoC sees “province-sized Chinatown but french” and Quebec sees “we will not be diluted one iota”.
As an immigrant, something I like about Canada is how regardless of where we came from we all make an effort to speak to each other in the common language so that we can learn and understand each other. And then there is Quebec sulking because we don’t speak their language, instead of following everybody else.
I didn’t lose my culture just because I use English as a vehicular language. I gained all sorts of stuff from other people, which I wouldn’t have if I or they refused to speak the common language. So, please, Quebecois, do share your beautiful culture with us – in the language we all understand.
That’s a shit take I would not expect from an immigrant. If your native language is not English, it shouldn’t be hard to empathize with francophones living in Montreal aren’t happy that their children speak more English than French in a French speaking city because this means that a few generations later French is just going to disappear.
Quececois aren’t resisting the sharing their culture, they just want to keep it alive. You asking them to share their culture in the language you understand is just glossing over the fact that the language is a part of the culture.
My children speak my native language, but my grandchildren won’t. That’s how it works. Somehow millions of immigrants are expected to understand and accept this, but Francophones somehow feel special?
It really isn’t. My culture, my traditions, my way of thinking doesn’t automatically change when I switch to English or any other language. A language is nothing but a tool to communicate ideas, and a multiplicity of languages only serves as a barrier that stops people from understanding each other. I’m all for a universal language to facilitate the free interchange of ideas.
That rudeness is uncalled for. You can do better.
Yes, because they didn’t go anywhere[1]. They’re not immigrants[1]. How is that difference not obvious?
K, that’s just ignorance at this point.
[1] PS. Obviously they immigrated as colonizers at some point, but the language they’re being assimilated into isn’t First Nations. If it were, that’d would be a different story.
Neither did First Nations people, and I don’t see the majority of Quebecois speaking any of those languages either. And thank goodness we don’t have each municipality speaking their indigenous tongues – it would be impossible to talk to each other!
So let’s all be practical and discuss our differences and our commonalities in a common language, rather than constructing language ghettos around us out of fear.
Québécois are not asking First Nations people to forget their language, you are.
I’m not asking anybody to forget anything. I’m saying that speaking a common language is highly beneficial to communication, and thus should be promoted.
I’m also saying that it is hypocritical for people who expect immigrants to integrate, yet at the same time refuse to integrate themselves. Like it or not, English is the lingua franca since at least WW2, and even more so since the advent of the Internet.
You and I would not even be having this conversation if it wasn’t for our ability to speak fluent English.
Now you’re just backpedaling. Quebecois aren’t against themselves learning English and using English, no one ever argued against knowing English. They know both, and want to keep it that way.
You on the other hand were saying moments ago that the loss of a language is not cultural loss, and blabbering about language ghettos - fuck off with that racist bullshit anyway. If you don’t care about your culture being erased, not my problem. Done wasting time on this, just reply whatever stupidity you think it’s best and move along.