English signs in Quebec

Congio :

Ban English? Hell no! The goal of things like bill 101 is not to destroy the non-French presence in Quebec, but to encourage French. While some people certainly do believe protection of French goes through repression of other languages, the immense majority, myself included, would rather say the point is to give French the foreground while keeping a place for the other languages - especially English, notably in the mostly English-speaking areas of the province, like on parts of Montreal island and parts of the Outaouais region.

See that's why I got nothing against the principle of Bill 101 that makes it impossible for a child not to learn expert-level French. I would deeply disagree with a measure that would make English inaccessible since we'd be restricting rights, but I'm not upset by how the law "forces" people to learn much French - it's fairly much an added duty. Big difference between that and a removed right.

I compare the need to learn French for those educated in the QuÃ©bÃ©cois system to the need to learn counting in base 10 in every occidental society. Theoretically speaking, one cannot go through the education system without learning that, and yet nobody questions it even if, heck, why wouldn't someone rather want their children to count in base 13 or whatever? I know the comparison is sloppy, but in both cases, it's just a knowledge the society considers necessary - and to provide it, it doesn't even actually remove access to any 'opposed' knowledge, it just favors the main one to give it the most optimal conditions possible.

Thing is that many believe you can't learn English in Quebec if you're born from French parents... not sure where that belief came from, but it's off the mark. Sure the law gives French a marked advantage by making it the mandatory language in which study, but learning at least functional English is also necessary and even *very* strongly encouraged, including by providing everyone much more advanced English classes and programs that actually do near immersion. Again, it's not that access to English, or any other language for that matter, is restricted - it's that it's somewhat overshadowed by how the system gives French all the latitude it needs and makes it mandatory while everything else is "only" strongly encouraged. (PS to RUEZ : I hope what I'm saying here helps you in particular understand the situation since your perception appears a bit skewed - though I have to apologize for hardly making sense right now as I'm really tired and am having a hard time correctly summing up what I mean)

So yeah... if parents really want their children to learn near-perfect English, they easily can get that from the education system in Quebec - it's just that their children also have to learn near-perfect French regardless since it's considered a necessary knowledge, much like something as apparently natural as counting in base 10 or knowing the alphabet as we use it in our daily lives. And to make sure that knowledge is well-transmitted, attending a French school is made mandatory. (Anyway I find the split between English and French schools to be BS, even though it's perfectly understandable... in an ideal world the system would definitely not be split like that, but that's a whole other matter).

what do you mean?

You should understand your countrymen first, foreigners latter.

But if your country has two official languages? And think of Canada as a union of two countries- English Canada and French Canada. Because Canada in all the matters is such a union.

Ok. So lets make French the only official languge of Canada...

No? Why? Oooo.. You don't speak French? So why English should be the only official? And I don't care it's the language of the majority, or that Quebec was Conquered.

If every one was bilingual we wouldn't have this discussion. No one would give a shit if the signs in Quebec would be in English or in French. I don't.

Hey, if people in Switzerland can be bi or tri lingual (French German Italian) why Canadians can't be?

What? lol.

I am tri lingual. English and Polish since birth, French I learnt. So tell me how is it I, who lives in Poland, could learn French, and someone who lives in Canada couldn't? What you said is no excuse.

Canadians should learn official and their native languages first, others after. That is what I did.

Canadians are mostly unilingual: English or French. If they are from immigrant families they have a third language.

A Canadian should know first one of the two official languages then the second and after any other. (unless he or she is from an immigrant family where it is: one of the official languages, native language, second official language)

I think a bilingual Canadian is a true Canadian.

If someone doesn't like Canada s bilingualism he is free to go to America, or Europe.

The idea that Canadians should learn other languages to enrich Canadian culture is good, but first such a Canadian must know his country s culture, which he can't know if he doesn't speak both official language at a communicative level.