Valcarde
11-19-2005, 05:20 AM
Before I go into the matter at hand, I feel I need to explain something concerning Canada, for the American readers ont he board who may not be privey to our 'language war'.
In Canada, there are two official languages, English (primarily) and French (Secondarily). In Quebec, the major french province, it is the opposite: French is the primary language, and English the one they are trying to abolish. There are laws in Quebec, and I admit I don't know every single specific, but the laws are: French first on any signage, English must be smaller print then anything french on the sign, and heaven forbid if you have a sign that is only in English. This effects even the government signs. Whereas, in Ontario (the primarily english province right across the St.Lawrence), as far as I know, there is no such laws: If a sign is in French, oh well. English and French can both be on a sign, it doesn't matter which one is bigger then the other.
The recent 'controversy' (a term I use loosely in this case) stems around the University of Ottawa. A bilingual university, it boasts full courses offered in both english -and- french. Ottawa is the Capital City of Canada, so it's expected to be bilingual, compared to Toronto, which is a primarily English (and chinese!) city. Recently, there was a job fair in Toronto, an -english- job fair. The Univeristy had some of its staff there to offer information about the University to the people there. A memo was passed around the staff: Stating that the staff should speak primarily english at the -english- job fair, speaking french if they are addressed in french by people looking for information, of course. The reasoning being, people who speak only english and no french (which the university can handle: Remember, it offers full courses in both english and french) may be apprehensive to attend the University if it seems they -have- to know french to succeed there. Understandable, yes?
The exact wording of the memo, as reported byt he local newspaper 'The Metro': "Also, be sure to speak English at all times. This is an English Fair. We will meet a couple of French students throughout the weekend (and don't hesitate to addres them in Frnech) but we do not want to scare those English students (who probably already think that they need to be billingual to attend our University)."
Political pundits in Quebec, most notably a french columnist named Denis Gratton who writes for a french-language newspaper called 'Le Droit' ( 'The Right') pounced on this. "Is that the way they promote a billingual University?" he wrote. "By hiding the fact that is it ... billingual? By hiding the fact that French-speaking students are also welcome: Or are they still?"
Cool your jets, Monsieur Gratton. Let's try circulating a memo the next time the University attends a French job fair in Quebec City. "Also, be sure to speak French at all times. This is a French fair. We will meet a couple of English students throughout the weekend (and don't hesitate to address them in English), but we do not want to scare those French students (who porbably already thing they need to be billingual to attend out University."
The problem: The University would be -lauded- for that. Not a single english person I know of would be offended by this in the least, but the Quebecois who are terrified of losing their heritage and their language are offended that staff are asked to speak ENGLISH at an ENGLISH job fair? Does anyone else smell the hypocrasy in the air?
- Alexander Dupuis, one pissed off Billingual person who REALLY hates double-standards.
In Canada, there are two official languages, English (primarily) and French (Secondarily). In Quebec, the major french province, it is the opposite: French is the primary language, and English the one they are trying to abolish. There are laws in Quebec, and I admit I don't know every single specific, but the laws are: French first on any signage, English must be smaller print then anything french on the sign, and heaven forbid if you have a sign that is only in English. This effects even the government signs. Whereas, in Ontario (the primarily english province right across the St.Lawrence), as far as I know, there is no such laws: If a sign is in French, oh well. English and French can both be on a sign, it doesn't matter which one is bigger then the other.
The recent 'controversy' (a term I use loosely in this case) stems around the University of Ottawa. A bilingual university, it boasts full courses offered in both english -and- french. Ottawa is the Capital City of Canada, so it's expected to be bilingual, compared to Toronto, which is a primarily English (and chinese!) city. Recently, there was a job fair in Toronto, an -english- job fair. The Univeristy had some of its staff there to offer information about the University to the people there. A memo was passed around the staff: Stating that the staff should speak primarily english at the -english- job fair, speaking french if they are addressed in french by people looking for information, of course. The reasoning being, people who speak only english and no french (which the university can handle: Remember, it offers full courses in both english and french) may be apprehensive to attend the University if it seems they -have- to know french to succeed there. Understandable, yes?
The exact wording of the memo, as reported byt he local newspaper 'The Metro': "Also, be sure to speak English at all times. This is an English Fair. We will meet a couple of French students throughout the weekend (and don't hesitate to addres them in Frnech) but we do not want to scare those English students (who probably already think that they need to be billingual to attend our University)."
Political pundits in Quebec, most notably a french columnist named Denis Gratton who writes for a french-language newspaper called 'Le Droit' ( 'The Right') pounced on this. "Is that the way they promote a billingual University?" he wrote. "By hiding the fact that is it ... billingual? By hiding the fact that French-speaking students are also welcome: Or are they still?"
Cool your jets, Monsieur Gratton. Let's try circulating a memo the next time the University attends a French job fair in Quebec City. "Also, be sure to speak French at all times. This is a French fair. We will meet a couple of English students throughout the weekend (and don't hesitate to address them in English), but we do not want to scare those French students (who porbably already thing they need to be billingual to attend out University."
The problem: The University would be -lauded- for that. Not a single english person I know of would be offended by this in the least, but the Quebecois who are terrified of losing their heritage and their language are offended that staff are asked to speak ENGLISH at an ENGLISH job fair? Does anyone else smell the hypocrasy in the air?
- Alexander Dupuis, one pissed off Billingual person who REALLY hates double-standards.