The Daily Chit-Chat

[.little monster]

Ah ok. So perhaps Canadian schools wouldn't need to adapt so much if that's the common arrangement in all schools over there. I agree, block scheduling is evil. >O

Still, I don't belive that the Quebec people have the right to demand the rest of Canada be forced to teach French all throughout school, especially if they're not going to be in Quebec or anywhere close where they can actually use the French.

I think in provinces (and US states) bordering Quebec should have more focus on French than they do though.

 

[pokejungle]

Well sadly if Quebecians want to be French so much they should go to France. Have they not realized they're thousands of miles away? lolol.

 

[Cherrim]

Lol, David. Did anyone else hear they want to change the (English) lyrics to O, Canada? :( They want to make it more politically correct.

@Paul: France doesn't really like Quebec and vice versa, as far as I know. XD;

They don't hate that English is mandatory for them; they enjoy that, but they hate that French isn't mandatory for the rest of Canada.

Quebecois farmers talk like crap, but the French you learn in school and in Quebec is International French. It's different from Quebecois and France French - it's a French understood by all with relatively no flagrant accent.

They don't complain too much for nothing, when anglophones come in and bish at them constantly about not serving them in English, when we don't get served in French. There's no fairness in it. We have to serve them in English, but even in QUEBEC, the anglophones don't serve us in French!

All Quebec wants is language preservation, and all that demands is that Canadians go through what they do - learn the other language, in this case, French, until high school graduation.

It's really not that hard; people are just too narrow-minded to accept it.

As for your edit, the charter states you can move to any province you like through Mobility Rights; however, when anglophoes decide "Hey, let's move to Quebec!", most don't know French, don't want to, and try to force English on the people who live there.

Would you go to Morocco and try that? They speak French and Arabic there; no one speaks English, really. Do you know how disrespectful it is to go to another province, state, or country, and demand service in English when you should be speaking THEIR language, or at least TRYING? That's what pisses us off. JUST TRY LOL It's not that hard! It's the mentality:

"You can get along fine in life just knowing English."

It's not true. That mentality = I can get along fine, but hey, if there's someone who speaks another language, I'm'a force them to speak MINE because MINE is spoken more.

You need to learn other languages; you're ignorant if you don't. You might as well start with the languages of your country.

I do agree that French should be mandatory but I just don't see it happening. Nor would I really... want to have gone through my French schooling with the idiots that were in my grade 9 class where everyone was still taking it, ugh. D8

But still, the part you mentioned about Anglophones heading to Quebec and expecting service in French... ugh. That's pretty disgusting, to be honest. :/ It doesn't surprise me in the least, but it's still disgusting. I don't think every single place you go should be expected to be bilingual but if a Francophone has to stumble through ordering a doughnut and coffee in an Albertan Tim Hortons, an Anglophone should have to stumble through ordering a beignet and a café in Quebec. :(

This is the basic Ontario curriculum, which is for all of Canada:

Grade 9: 6 compulseries, including French already, 2 electives
Grade 10: 5 compulseries, no French, 3 electives
Grade 11: 2 compulseries, no French, 6 electives
Grade 12: 1 compulsery, no French, 7 electives

That would mean, adding French throughout highschool, your Grade 10 would become 2 Electives, Grade 11 would become 5, and Grade 12 would become 6.

I don't see a problem.

Haha, I went to an arts school so two of my electives every year were taken up by art courses. :( It was so, so hard to fit French in. Besides, I know a ton of people would then just whine about not having a spare in final year, lmao.

(Can you guess? Anglophones have major entitlement issues. Who'd have guessed. 9_9)

 

[Yusshin]

Ontario and New Brunswick boarders Quebec.

New Brunswick is pretty hard-core (Chapeau a vous !), Ontario is all right, but it's easy to "get out" of the French classes, regardless the several big French communities IN Ontario (Ottawa, North Bay, Niagra Falls, Timmins).

I'd still like to see the rest of Canada respect the other 1/3 of the country. There are other places in the world who speak French; if you ever want to go to Africa or France, French is useful there, too.

S'not just about using it in Quebec lol but it about respecting Quebec.

and thank-you, Lightning. It's nice that you see where Quebec is coming from now ): It's not fair to us lol

 

[Alakazam17]

I think in provinces (and US states) bordering Quebec should have more focus on French than they do though.

Yeah, that's true. I myself have always lived within a few minutes of the Quebec border, so I have a better chance of coming across a situation where I need to speak it than say, somebody in Alberta or B.C.

That said, I think a popular reason why us Anglophones don't learn much French is because we know the Francophones can speak English anyway. I know it's a bad reason, but nonetheless, it's the truth. :/

 

[Yusshin]

What would you do if we just stopped then?

That's a terrible reason. That's not a reason to not learn French. That's just arrogance. Egotistical. Disgusting. I hate people with this mentality. The "You'll juste serve me so eff you" mentality.

/shudders

 

[Alakazam17]

What would you do if we just stopped then?

That's a terrible reason. That's not a reason to not learn French. That's just arrogance. Egotistical. Disgusting. I hate people with this mentality. The "You'll juste serve me so eff you" mentality.

/shudders

I agree with you, and I know it's a terrible reason. I'm just saying that's usually the case. :/

 

[Cherrim]

Then a lot of Ontarians would be so boned when they go to Quebec for ski vacations. :(

I'd love to see that actually. I get a bit annoyed since whenever I end up in Quebec (usually in tourist areas, but still), when I try to speak French, usually whoever is serving me realizes I'm not very good at it and switches to English. 8( My friend going to school in Montreal says she had the same problem a lot when she first moved there.

 

[parallelzero]

I don't think it's fair to force people to take French when the majority of the country doesn't speak it. I took the language all through high school by choice, but a lot of people just don't have the patience to learn two languages (some struggle with just English lmao).

 

[Yusshin]

I know it's a terrible reason. I'm just saying that's usually the case. :/

I know :\ I hate it. I really do. I'm going to vow never to speak English with an anglophone in Quebec if it keeps up.

I'm for equality; I don't want to feed their disgusting mentality any more ego-boosts.

 

[Melody]

What would you do if we just stopped then?

That's a terrible reason. That's not a reason to not learn French. That's just arrogance. Egotistical. Disgusting. I hate people with this mentality. The "You'll juste serve me so eff you" mentality.

/shudders

This is the same arrogance you're accusing anglophones of. And yes, it disgusts me too, so yeah, no wonder we won't budge. Both sides are being insufferably arrogant, and it ought to stop. So long as there IS a language two people have in common, there shouldn't be a problem.

 

[Alakazam17]

Then a lot of Ontarians would be so boned when they go to Quebec for ski vacations. :(

I'd love to see that actually. I get a bit annoyed since whenever I end up in Quebec (usually in tourist areas, but still), when I try to speak French, usually whoever is serving me realizes I'm not very good at it and switches to English. 8( My friend going to school in Montreal says she had the same problem a lot when she first moved there.

XD I know what you mean there. When my dad goes into a restaurant in Quebec, the waiter would greet him in French. My dad would then reply back, but since his accent is so bad, the guy could tell he wasn't too good at the language. So he would then switch to English and nothing more would be said on the subject.

 

[parallelzero]

It's so hard to retain a language that you don't use all of the time, too. XD I'm moving to Ottawa for school in the fall, and I've completely forgotten most of my French. When I went to visit in November, half the people I saw down the street spoke French. It's going to be a confusing first few months. @.@

 

[Yusshin]

This is the same arrogance you're accusing anglophones of. And yes, it disgusts me too, so yeah, no wonder we won't budge. Both sides are being insufferably arrogant, and it ought to stop. So long as there IS a language two people have in common, there shouldn't be a problem.

The Quebecois aren't being arrogant.

We're willing to speak in English in general; we actually LEARN the English language.

The English DO NOT try to speak French (in general); they do not take French in school as much as the Quebecois learn English.

How is it the same? Refusing to speak English in a French province is not arrogance; it's to be expected, yet, the majority of Quebecois speak English anyway. If we choose not to speak to you, then perhaps that'll force you guys to at least try to speak French and "come out of your hole", as the expression goes.

 

[Melody]

XD I know what you mean there. When my dad goes into a restaurant in Quebec, the waiter would greet him in French. My dad would then reply back, but since his accent is so bad, the guy could tell he wasn't too good at the language. So he would then switch to English and nothing more would be said on the subject.

If this is usually the case, and people switch to english anyways, why in the world should you whine and force everyone to be fluent in French? It's hardly fair to make such a demand if you're willing to make accomodations to those who do respect the Quebec preference for french enough to TRY.

 

[Cherrim]

XD I know what you mean there. When my dad goes into a restaurant in Quebec, the waiter would greet him in French. My dad would then reply back, but since his accent is so bad, the guy could tell he wasn't too good at the language. So he would then switch to English and nothing more would be said on the subject.

Yuuup that's pretty much how it works for me. XD; It's not totally my fault that my accent is so bad--I actually had one of the better accents in all my French classes but I know my school emphasized grammar over conversational skills. :( So when I actually do get a chance to speak it, I'm always so excited but then they always switch to English and I don't want to be a bother and insult them with bad French, lmao. ;_;

 

[.little monster]

Then a lot of Ontarians would be so boned when they go to Quebec for ski vacations. :(

I'd love to see that actually. I get a bit annoyed since whenever I end up in Quebec (usually in tourist areas, but still), when I try to speak French, usually whoever is serving me realizes I'm not very good at it and switches to English. 8( My friend going to school in Montreal says she had the same problem a lot when she first moved there.

That's how it is here with my Spanish. lol Although I can do restaurants just fine, it's anything other than that that I have trouble with. XD

My city has a very large Spanish speaking community.

Listening to music helps a lot, when in a different language. I can read Russian (but I cant understand it) and say it nearly flawlessly without an accent because for the past three years I have been obsessed with Russian music.

/has had multiple Russian people say I have no or barely an accent.

 

[Yusshin]

The Quebecois are being polite by doing that, and want to make you feel comfortable.

If I went to Alberta with a huge English accent, you know what I'd get?

"HAHAHAHAHA"

^ Pretty much.

It's really not the same thing; there's a lot of hatred towards French in general. Even in the United States it's like this.

I don't get it; and some people in Quebec will refuse to serve you if you don't speak in English, and I give them reason for it, unless it's health care or something serious.

But if you're at the store and don't understand what 5.69$ is in French, that's when you know you need to try harder :\

 

[Shakespeare]

Has anybody ever heard of Golden Sun? The videogames? No? That makes me sad T_T Golden Sun is an awesome game...

 

[Alakazam17]

It's so hard to retain a language that you don't use all of the time, too. XD I'm moving to Ottawa for school in the fall, and I've completely forgotten most of my French. When I went to visit in November, half the people I saw down the street spoke French. It's going to be a confusing first few months. @.@

Oh, you're coming here to Ottawa? Carleton or Ottawa U? XD

And I can vouche for the fact that Ottawa is very bilingual. Our recently elected firechief was in some trouble because he couldn't speak French. I hear he's taking courses now, though. ^^

But if you're at the store and don't understand what 5.69$ is in French, that's when you know you need to try harder :\

XD I'd laugh if someone couldn't figure that out. Same with 13:00.