Last week, there was a long series of articles in The Ottawa Citizen triggered by the discovery of a leak regarding reading comprehension and written expression tests in the Public Service of Canada.
Of course, when something like this happens, it brings back an old debate to the surface: policies on the two official languages in this country. I doubt this heated topic will ever die down one day… two days in a row, May 19 and May 20 (click on the dates to read the articles), Kelly Egan wrote about how many public servants faked their way through into bilingual positions by only being able to pass the SLE tests without having to prove they can actually work in the second language… and about taxpayers’ money wasted on training people who actually do not want to either learn or use French.
I do agree with all this to some extent… being forced to learn a language with the mere purpose of passing tests in order to meet a position requirements or get a promotion is something I would not be thrilled to do myself. As for people close to retire from the workforce, they should not be on the Public Service fulltime language training list. But should those policies on official languages be overthrown?… I do not think so…
I read a few comments left on Egan’s articles and I noticed that only irreducible unilingual English people seem to be strongly in favour of French disappearance from the Public Service… And the universal belief that less qualified people get promotions only because they are bilingual is part of the Ottawa urban myths I am afraid! For decades (what am I saying here? For centuries!), Francophones learned how to speak English because their counterpart never judged either imperative or necessary to learn French. Therefore, for a very long time, bilingual positions were given to Francophones… This situation certainly created resentment among unlingual Anglophones for years! When they finally got the opportunity to learn the language «aux frais de la princesse», instead of seeing this as something positive for their career advancement and personal growth, they saw it as the ultimate punishment!…
Today I would like to shed positive light on what seems to be an aberrant concept… In the course of my practice, I did meet several jaded aging civil servants who were reluctant to under’go language training… their ideas of what it would be had come from their peers’ bad experience rather than based on their hatred for French. Their negative attitude was also motivated by their fear of failure… Not a good combination indeed!
Although I knew they would have to take the SLE tests at some point, I taught them French so that they would want to improve and use it in their daily lives… Since I am passionate about my mother tongue and what I do, it was not irrealistic on my part. All it took was a bit of creativity, lots of support and positive reinforcement and some room for mistakes!… Learning a second language to communicate is not about mastering it (though the way SLE testing is conducted could give that impression)…
For the past five months, I have been helping people who applied for job positions within the Public Service or civil servants who are trying to get their levels without having to go on fulltime language training in one of the numerous boot camps in Ottawa. Therefore I am now working with younger people who already have some background in French (many of them attended French immersion schools for a few years) or for who French is their third language. Although I have to push them hard by teaching them to the tests, I make sure to spend some time on teaching them about the language and the culture. Consequently, they are not suffering the way people in language schools are… they learn better and they achieve better at the tests. Why? Because if they come to me kind of desperate and nervous about their upcoming tests, they always leave serene and confident… Bottom line, I firmly believe it is all about attitude.
If people looked at learning French as an asset instead of a burden… if they had a positive attitude… if they were curious about the other solitude’s culture and issues… if they saw this journey as an incredible discovery… I am convinced they would be more open minded regarding the policies on the two official languages in Canada.
Of course, changes have to be made about the whole training and SLE testing process in the Public Service of Canada. The current state of affairs just does not work!… A thorough review of the training programs and methods should be on the priority list of the PSC as well as the implementation of an evaluation system based upon knowledge and communication capabilities (in other words, the «mots-liens» should be forgotten and replaced with more effective and useful grammar/syntax notions)… Also, if only public servants who really need to be bilingual at work (meaning that they have to go back an forth between both languages on a daily basis) were provided with language training, taxpayers’ money would be spent much more wisely and the government could spend more on other programs in need of more funding.
Being bilingual is not a tragedy… it is something that gives people more choices and more opportunities. This morning, I asked Yong why he wanted to get his B since the job he applied for is essential English… I was expecting the typical answers: quicker access to management positions, higher wages, etc. I was kind of surprised by his answer… he said that the two largest nuclear companies were located in France and in the U.S.A… and there is a possibility that the French company will build a large nuclear plant in Canada. His dream is to work for that company and he knows he will never be able to work there and travel to France without being able to speak French…. and it is one of the reasons why he attended the Université de Montréal instead of its competitor in Ontario: now he knows the technical jargon in French!… The secret for success is to look beyond the letter on a piece of paper that declares you eligible for a bilingual position…
“La fin de l’espoir est le commencement de la mort”
Charles De Gaulle
5 Comments
As an Australian I first learned about the Canadian Public Service dual language policy many years ago, listening to Anglo Canadian travelers ranting about the need for all documents, including letters, to be produced in two languages.
Recently I have learned of the requirement for people at certain levels in the Canadian Public Service to be effectively bilingual. I can follow the need to understand both cultures in Canada. I mean really understand the cultures and know how to interact in the other cultures and to know what is sensitive to both cultures. I read the two articles by Kelly Egan, The Ottawa Citizen:
May 19, 2009
Parlez-vous baloney?
and
May 20, 2009
Language in the PS: I’ve struck a nerve…
His views seem so logical one wonders why the system is not listening.
I can understand that certain jobs require the person to be bilingual, but if bilingualism is so important, why is French given such little emphasis in ordinary education?
It sounds like the way French was taught in Australia when I was young, a few hours a week almost without context. At least Australia had the excuse at the time that there were almost no native French speakers in the country.
The Anglo Canadians that I have talked to in the past endured the learning of French not as one of the national languages but as an alien tongue not relevant to their lives. There seems to be a basic contradiction, if being bilingual is so important, why isn’t French taught in context, taught together with a comprehensive introduction to the relevant culture and history ?
And what about all the other languages that exist in Canada, both indigenous and immigrant. Where is the needed emphasis on them ? Are people in the Public Service who can speak those languages suitably rewarded for their skills ? Not from what I have heard so far.
Strange times.
Philip,
It’s interesting to hear from a foreigner wondering why French (and it’s more or less the same for English) is given so little emphasis in our education system… I think the problem originates from this lack of concern in the public education system: in schools, students only learn “survival French” and I’m always stunned by the lack of basic knowledge my trainees display (though they took French in school for many years). A couple of years ago, there was a great story about that on Radio-Canada… Reporters had spent some time in Vancouver high schools to see what was the French competency level of these teenagers. Senior students, after many years of French, could hardly introduce themselves and use greetings formulas!…
I do agree that there is a need to improve teaching of both official languages in schools, it would prevent headaches in the future… But, Canada is declared bilingual… provinces are not, and education is under provincial jurisdiction. Therefore the Federal Government can’t force Provincial Governments to make official languages teaching mandatory. Quite a dichotomy, isn’t it?…
As for other languages in Canada, there is no emphasis on them at all. And people who want to learn another language than French or English can’t do it before they reach college or university… unless they register in private language schools offering foreign languages…
A problem that will not be solved soon I’m afraid!… and this debate will go on forever…
Thank you for this blog post, Lyne! I’m originally from Vancouver, where the idea that French is one of the country’s official languages is laughed at, and people roll their eyes at kids in French Immersion, since the idea of French being spoken anywhere outside of the classroom is absurd. While this may be true, it is by no means a reason to dismiss the usefulness of learning of another language. In my opinion, a language is a gateway to understanding another culture. In this age of globalization, what skill could be more valuable than this?!
This post reminded me of a comment on another bulletin board I read a few weeks ago. The author had been asking for advice about her upcoming move to Ottawa, and the commenter warned her to stay away from Ottawa if she wasn’t a French separatist, since “only Francophones can get jobs here”. The comment was filled with resentment, and it made me wonder how long Francophones have been writing the same thing about English for every other Canadian city outside of Quebec.
I am ashamed of the attitude of linguistic superiority held by those unilingual Anglos who argue about the pointlessness of French. It may be that English is the current “universal” language, but many languages have claimed this title over the millenia, and you don’t see anyone speaking Latin anymore. The French language, while it may not be used as often as English in the Public Service, is an intrinsic part of the Canadian culture. Moving to Ottawa has allowed me to witness this first-hand. French is essential not only for performing the 10% of your tasks that require it, but for understanding the Canadian identity and being able to represent it, as the Public Service aspires to do.
I meant to add: Learning a language not only enhances our ability to comprehend another culture and opens our eyes to a new world of perspective, but the act of learning a language itself is an incredibly beneficial exercise. The fact that our government not only encourages, but PAYS FOR language training (albeit in an ineffective way) for its federal employees is something that continually awes me. I may be unfairly biased, due to my love of languages (I used to want to be a translator/interpreter), but I just can’t understand how to see the learning of a language as a burden. True, the manner in which it is tested is utterly flawed, but I strongly believe in the benefit of bilingualism for all Canadians, and I find it very heartening to know that, for the most part, this is promoted in the Public Service. I feel sorry for the staunchly unilingual Anglos who get so irate over being forced to learn such an interesting language and be exposed to such a fascinating culture. They don’t know what they’re missing!
Alicia,
It’s refreshing to hear from a young Anglophone who shows such an open mind… and I know that you aren’t the only one to take pride in being bilingual. Unfortunately, it seems that people who resent «le fait français» voice their opinions louder… therefore there is this general idea that the majority of Anglos dismiss the usefulness of knowing another language.
Hopefully, with the new generations, we’ll be able to see a mentality shift. In my practice, I see more and more young public servants who attended French immersion schools and they consider themselves very lucky to be able to communicate in the second official language (among other things, it prevents them from having to go on fulltime FSL training)… and if their parents made the decision to put them in those schools, it’s probably because they thought it would open them doors. And you said it clear and loud: the Public Service is there to represent the Canadian dual identity and it is important that those who work there understand this concept, since they are our government ambassadors.
And yes! In spite of the present SLE process (which comes with flaws and some absurd notions), public servants get out of there with knowledge and it’s up to them to use what they learned and get the exposure to the French culture… those who don’t are actually missing something and losing quickly what took them months (if not years) to acquire…