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The Chinese seem to think you can learn to communicate in English without ever using it. In fact, that's how their schools teach it, entirely in Mandarin(at least in Taiwan they do) and it's an abject failure.

Sort of an interesting aside. last night we had a farewell party for one of our Taiwanese co workers. He completed his 'alternate' service (they can now choose between military and civil service. He's going back to the States to to write the exam for his CPA (California State certified) and then do his one year practical there. He then plans on returning to Taiwan to work because the California certification is recognized here. I asked if Taiwan has a similar test and he said yes, but it was too hard for him to do well on because he did all of his schooling in the States, since Junior High(He has his Masters now). He doesn't think he'd be able to understand the test well enough based on what he was taught in the US.

   

Same thing in Toronto. Polish is more useful than French here.

   

All that does not change the fact that Mr. Harper is not trying to change the rules but is willing to break them to accomplish his ends and it sets a bad precedence for all the other Canadians who he expects to obey the rules, his rules. Less than great leadership anyway you look at it.

   

Par for the course in Canadian politics for many years now.

   

I don't think so. There is a difference between the number of speakers of a language in a metropolitan area and that language's actual usefulness. It's not just beacuse there are more Poles in a city than Francophones that Polish is more useful than French. French is an internationally spoken prestige language, and knowledge of it opens more doors, even in Toronto, than most other languages, particularly considering its official status in this country. There are hundreds, if not thousands of jobs in the GTA that require a knowledge of French. There are not many that require knowledge of Polish.

According to the 2001 census, 422,945 people in the Toronto metropolitan community can speak French. That makes French the second most widely known language in Toronto (even more than Chinese). According to the same census, only just over 80,000 people in Toronto spoke Polish as a first language (and I doubt there are many more that speak it as a second one).

http://www40.statcan.gc.ca/l01/cst01/demo16-eng.htm
http://www40.statcan.gc.ca/l01/cst01/demo12c-eng.htm

   

The fact that my kids can read, write and speak mandarin is a bigger benefit to them, than being able to read the other side of the raisin bran box or deal with third world sub Saharan Africa, which my eldest can do(the cereal box not the African thing...been there done that and I understand why humans starting fleeing the place as soon as we were bipedal), as he's also taken french for three years because it was mandatory.

   

It's good that your kids can speak Chinese, and you can estimate the usefulness of that skill as much as you want, but there is really no way to know how useful the language will prove to be for them in relation to another which they don't speak. People can learn as many languages as they want for any reason they want.

It's a typically Anglo-Canuck attitude to regard French with disdain by thinking that it's only useful to read the other side of the cereal box, as if 200 million people on 5 continents didn't speak it. By 2050, there will be 500 million francophones. A great number of them will be African, in both Northern and Sub Saharan Africa, but that is no reason to discount them. (And btw, French is also a very important language in Europe. Every EU institution is in a French-speaking city and a multitude of international organisations are headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, which is also a French-speaking city. Not to mention that your kids live in Canada and like it or not, French is the language of 7 million of their future potential clients.

While your kids are learning Chinese, the Alliance Française language institutes in China are completely full. Why? Because China has its eyes set on Africa.

In any case, it doesn't matter to me if your kids or anyone else in English Canada learns French. They usually don't learn to speak it well anyway, and I'm already of the opinion that Quebec ought to be a separate country. A few million English Canucks being able to mumble "bonjour" aren't going to convert me back. So I really don't know what the problem is here. If you don't want to learn French, don't do it. Don't whine if your bilingual federal government won't hire you, though.

You can't have your cake and eat it too. People insist that Quebec should stay in Canada but then turn around and bitch when the federal government is bilingual. What did they expect? That Quebec was going to stay in Canada while subject to an unilingual English government? That would be unacceptable to any self-respecting people.



So you dislike and look down upon the entire continent of Africa? Wow.

   

It was a joke. Jesus, you must be a riot at parties. Take the pole out of your ass.

   

Perhaps, McDonaill, somewhere outline why you think Quebec should be a separate country and what justification you can provide for your reasoning.

   

Perhaps, McDonaill, somewhere outline why you think Quebec should be a separate country and what justification you can provide for your reasoning.

I agree with you on the languages of Canada, btw, but would apply the same to Quebec that illegally and immorally proscribes the English language in so many ways.

   

That's a pretty bold statement coming from a Texan. What do you know about typical anglo canucks?

   

Not really.

Besides the general attitude on this board, of which I have been a member for many years, I have lived in Canada long enough and have assimilated into Canadian culture enough to not be ignorant on the subject. I'm also a Canadian citizen, since birth, whose native toungue is English. I am university educated in Canada, I read the Canadian press in both languages and I am literate in public affairs and public opinion.

I don't really think my credibility can be called into question on the simple fact that I have lived in other countries than Canada in my lifetime. Especially since Canadians have no problem giving their two cents about Americans and U.S. internal affairs without ever having lived in the U.S. (in the case of most people).

Also, I am not the only person on the board from another country expressing opinions about Canadians and Canada.

Lastly, most of you have never lived in Quebec, don't speak French and thus cannot and do not read the Quebec press, yet none of this keeps you from saying anything you want about Quebeckers. What's good for the goose is good for the gander.

   

i always thought math was the same in french as it is in english.

   

It is..except in the algebraic studies where the French insist on putting accents over some of the letters

   

I would love for Quebec to separate. They want to keep using our dollar, so would be in the same relative position as Greece to Germany - ie they would be stuck with a high value currency for a low value economy, the worst of both worlds, and essentially have their monetary policy dictated by us. With no more equalization payments, their standard of living would plummet, and they would soon be squealing to rejoin Canada. In that case we could get them to sign an agreement to shut the fuck up about what a raw deal they're getting for at least 100 years. And we could take away the extra seats in parliament they get even with a lower population. Oh, and they have to sign the constitution as well.

   

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