I was supposed to write something on what is more important during an oral examination… perfect grammar and syntax or communication skills? And… eventually I will!… But, right now, I want to talk about the two solitudes that confine Canadians in two different worlds… Francophones on one side and Anglophones on the other.
Lately, I found out that some of my past posts had been automatically generated by WordPress as possibly related to what it seems to be quite a popular blog. The author calls himself The Angry French Guy and he obviously lives in Québec. From what I read, his blog appears to be a forum for francophobics and anglophobics!… Useless to say that civility and politeness have been “reléguées aux oubliettes” in the comments section!… Both Francophones and Anglophones are attacking each other “à qui mieux mieux”… In a way, it is kind of fascinating to read what people have to say because… it sounds so unreal! The line between being opinionated and being obtuse is sometimes very thin… Perhaps I am a dreamer, but… I thought this quarrel was behind us. Yet it seems some irreducible dinosaurs are still living in the past (unless all this is only a game for them, who knows?)… ranting, venting, attacking… instead of working on reconciling differences in order to pass on a better place for our future generations. It is funny though because Canadians brag about their non-racism and their acceptance of other cultures… while the two groups who founded this country are still unaccepting of each other… Hopefully, individuals with such narrow minds are a minority! Although even two or three specimens like those are way too many!…
Yesterday, in the referrer section of my stats, for the second time I saw a link to one of AFG‘s posts… obviously, there was a link to one of mine since someone had landed on my blog. I decided to have a look and see for myself what, in A letter from Ottawa, had generated a link to one of my posts… most of the time, it is only certain words used in two articles that will link them: not necessarily the topic itself.
In a letter to AFG, a French speaking civil servant states facts… Yes! Francophones working in the Public Service of Canada use English 90% of the time… Yes! it seems only Francophones are truly bilingual… Yes! French training gives poor results… Yes! it appears that management positions are bilingual in theory only because, once managers have obtained their required level, they never speak French again… Yes! most of the time, meetings are led in English even if the majority is francophone… Yes! one would think that policies on the official languages are purely institutional and imposed from above… And yes again! Anglophones have no reasons to learn French… but I disagree with “why would they?”… Only because we should never learn anything (especially languages) with the idea that we have to… we should learn because it broadens our horizon…
Most comments on that post are irrelevant: a bunch of francophobics and anglophobics attacking each other on the public place… One of them, though, caught my attention:
“(…) This is the most bizarre aspect of anglo canadian culture, people will spend a considerable effort and time to learn French… but in real life… they will refuse to use it. A significant proportion of students who went to French immersion can’t even have a basic conversation in French (…)”
For the records, if civil servants who spent months in French immersion cannot have a basic conversation in French, it is not because they refuse to use their second language… It is only because they CANNOT!!!
Unfortunately what they learned in language schools is of no use in the real world… I will never repeat it often enough: they are taught to the tests!… They are compelled to read government documents and memos so they will be able to recognize the jargon when they will write their reading comprehension tests. It has nothing to do with comprehension itself… if they developed a good strategy, they will pass yet I am not sure they will ever be able to read a novel! Do they know how to write in French? Nope! because all they do is fill in the blanks and do multiple choice exercises… I doubt they ever had to write one single sentence of their own! As for conversation… they did not learn how to converse… they basically memorized answers to work-related questions. The minute you take them out of the box, they are speechless… not because they are too arrogant or because they refuse to speak, simply because they do not know how to express thoughts or opinions that are not work-related. I am convinced that, after so much effort and time invested into learning French, they would love to be able to communicate…
I never taught someone who was reluctant to learn French… scared to death, yes! But they all overcame their fears and it never took long for them to become enthusiastic. Most of my current part-time students work in the same Directorate and, on Fridays, they write all their memos in French… when they have meetings where they are the majority, they try and speak French as much as they can… listening to Radio-Canada is now part of their daily routine… On the other hand, I provide them with as much exposure as possible to French culture so that they see beyond the language itself…
As their trainer, it is my responsibility to catch (and keep) their attention and have them see the benefits of learning French… Forcing a language down someone’s throat for the only sake of passing tests will never give any positive results… It is hard to believe that, as of today, no one has seen how miserably the current training system failed… I know I cannot save them all, yet the ones I did save (and will save) will make French part of their lives… Before people rant and attack without knowing exactly why people are not using their second language, they should do their homework. Hopefully I will live long enough to see Canadians speak fluently in their two official languages… Speaking two languages is great, speaking more than two is awesome!… It is time we move on and leave that “esprit de clocher suranné” behind us!
“La paix des deux mondes repose sur ces deux mots : bienveillance envers les amis, modération envers les ennemis.”
Proverbe persan
4 Comments
Perhaps what is true in France is also true in London!
I live in London and if anyone says to me “everyone speaks English” my answer is “Listen and look around you”. If people in London do not speak English then the whole question of a global language is completely open.
Is this true about the French language in Paris also?
An interesting video can be seen at http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=_YHALnLV9XU
A glimpse of Esperanto can be seen at http://www.lernu.net
Brian,
The idea of “everyone speaks English” always throws me off… it might look like it, but reality is quite different!
Unfortunately, I can’t speak on Parisians’ behalf because I don’t know what’s really going on out there… Perhaps Isabelle, one of my regular readers from Paris, could enlighten you on this (if she ever reads this post).
You’re right… the question of a global language remains totally open! Although… Esperanto never really picked up, did it?…
Brian, when you write “Is this true about the French language in Paris also?”, do you mean that in Paris (or France) everyone takes for granted that everybody should speak French?
What I can tell you is that French was THE diplomatic language in the 18th century, but has lost its supremacy over the years. All the kings’ children of the European monarchies (and even the children of the russian tsars) were taught French and they spoke it very well (Queen Elizabeth of England speaks very good French).
Now, we understand that the French language will never be at its past level, and we do know that to communicate with foreigners chances are that English will be used most of the time.
Kids at school have to learn 2 foreign languages, English being mandatory, and then there is the choice between Spanish, Italian or German. Some schools might teach Mandarin, but it’s not everywhere.
I think that, unlike a general idea, Parisians really make an effort to try to speak English to tourists.
And let’s face it, we don’t have the choice but adapt to the fact that as long as the Americans are the leaders of the economic world, we will have to learn how to speak English in order to communicate with the rest of the world.
I don’t know if I’ve answered your question, maybe I’ve got everything wrong (lol).
Merci Isabelle!
… For having answered Brian’s question! And I think you did because I interpreted his question the same way you did… And if not, well! Ce que tu as écrit démontre une belle ouverture d’esprit de la part des Français!…
Au prochain test!