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Geckoman
Joined: 07 Jun 2007
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Olivencia
Joined: 08 Mar 2009
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 Posted: Fri Dec 04, 2009 3:43 am Post subject: |
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| One world one langauge...speakEnglish or get out of it! |
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GwangjuParents
Joined: 31 Oct 2008
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| Posted: Fri Dec 04, 2009 4:03 am Post subject: |
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I don't have a problem with this.
The French cultural identity in Canada is under real threat, and probably won't really be around in any meaningful way in a few more generations time.
Desperate times call for desperate measures. |
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Olivencia
Joined: 08 Mar 2009
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| Posted: Fri Dec 04, 2009 4:18 am Post subject: |
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| Culture is an illusion. Here today gone tomorrow. Time to think, reason and act more globally and forever cast away this pre-millennial mindset. |
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Underwaterbob
Joined: 08 Jan 2005
Location: In Cognito
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| Posted: Fri Dec 04, 2009 7:33 am Post subject: |
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| GwangjuParents wrote: |
I don't have a problem with this.
The French cultural identity in Canada is under real threat, and probably won't really be around in any meaningful way in a few more generations time. |
And kicking people off a bus, inconveniencing the English and French speakers alike, is certainly no way to express the importance of preserving that culture. I think half the problem in urban Quebec lies in the French people's repulsive attitude towards those who don't speak the language. If you're not already fluent, there's little to negative encouragement from the French speaking populace to learn it.
The Quebecois need to take a hint from the Acadians in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia who've remained adamantly French in the face of far more English adversity. |
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jvalmer
Joined: 06 Jun 2003
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| Posted: Fri Dec 04, 2009 7:59 am Post subject: |
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| GwangjuParents wrote: |
I don't have a problem with this.
The French cultural identity in Canada is under real threat, and probably won't really be around in any meaningful way in a few more generations time.
Desperate times call for desperate measures. |
I have a hard time believing that the Quebec French cultural identity will be gone in a few generations. But then again, I guess I'm from a place far away from Quebec. |
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On the other hand
Joined: 19 Apr 2003
Location: I walk along the avenue
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| Posted: Fri Dec 04, 2009 8:58 am Post subject: |
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Reading the article, it's probably more accurate to say that the guy was kicked off the bus for arguing with the driver, rather than for speaking English per se.
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And in response to that incident, an official with the city bus company says that their drivers don't have to speak in English.
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The fact is, rightly or wrongly, most Quebeckers probably regard their province as a place where French should be the predominant language. So no, they probably don't think that bus drivers should be required to speak English, any more than people in Victoria British Columbia think that their bus drivers should have to speak French. |
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ontheway
Joined: 24 Aug 2005
Location: Somewhere under the rainbow...
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| Posted: Fri Dec 04, 2009 11:14 am Post subject: |
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| On the other hand wrote: |
Reading the article, it's probably more accurate to say that the guy was kicked off the bus for arguing with the driver, rather than for speaking English per se.
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And in response to that incident, an official with the city bus company says that their drivers don't have to speak in English.
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The fact is, rightly or wrongly, most Quebeckers probably regard their province as a place where French should be the predominant language. So no, they probably don't think that bus drivers should be required to speak English, any more than people in Victoria British Columbia think that their bus drivers should have to speak French. |
The fact is that the bus driver and the bus system is providing a service to the public. They should be required, and the drivers should be trained, to be courteous, offer polite service and help in whatever language they know. Knowing English in addition to French and using both should be encouraged.
The bus system should be admonished to provide better service. The driver should be warned and retrained or fired outright. Excessive pride in the French language is one of the elements of French culture that need not be preserved. |
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some waygug-in
Joined: 25 Jan 2003
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| Posted: Sat Dec 05, 2009 7:19 am Post subject: |
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Sounds just like Korea.
Yeeehoooo! |
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Arthur Dent
Joined: 28 Mar 2007
Location: Kochu whirld
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| Posted: Sat Dec 05, 2009 8:10 am Post subject: |
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Tempest in a teapot. Or put another way, la chaudiere est vide!
Quebecois have preserved their culture and language for 500 years. If you want to call it preserving. It won't change more than the other cultures surrounding it will.
There is an element of the Quebecois population which does not appreciate the influx of immigrants as they have generally chosen to learn English over French, and they consistently vote Liberal. This is part of the reason why Quebec did not succeed in seceding with the last referendum. Just ask Jacques Parizeau.
Montreal is usually much more accommodating though. A very cosmopolitan city.
Canada has two official languages. However, relatively few across the country speak both. Government offices and services are required to be provided in both.
This has more to do with the culture of bus drivers than anything else. |
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jvalmer
Joined: 06 Jun 2003
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| Posted: Sat Dec 05, 2009 11:17 am Post subject: |
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| Arthur Dent wrote: |
Canada has two official languages. However, relatively few across the country speak both. Government offices and services are required to be provided in both.
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More specifically federal government services are require to be provided in English and French. Provincial and municipal services have no obligation to provide service in both languages.
So the bus driver was under no obligation to serve in english, unless it's a policy of Montreal transit. But, it's sounds like the bus driver was mean-spirited and over-reacted. But I don't know what really happened. |
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On the other hand
Joined: 19 Apr 2003
Location: I walk along the avenue
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| Posted: Sat Dec 05, 2009 11:41 am Post subject: |
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| So the bus driver was under no obligation to serve in english, unless it's a policy of Montreal transit. But, it's sounds like the bus driver was mean-spirited and over-reacted. But I don't know what really happened. |
As I noted earlier, it seems that the ejection came AFTER he had gotten into an argument with the driver about which language she should speak. I'd like to know how exactly how that argument transpired.
In Edmonton, I've seen people refused service or kicked off of buses just for being rude to the driver. And there aren't likely that many drivers who can speak French, so I could easily imagine this happening to a rider who decided to press for his alleged right to a Charter Of-Rights-approved conversation on the ETS. |
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doc_ido
Joined: 03 Sep 2007
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| Posted: Sun Dec 06, 2009 8:14 pm Post subject: |
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I'm actually more concerned that this was reported in the "sexual health" section of the Gazette. 
The story is conspicuously absent from the French-language publications (at least, I couldn't find it in the online editions of La Presse, Le Journal de Montr�al or Le Devoir), suggesting that the Francophone community doesn't consider it news.  |
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Fox
Joined: 04 Mar 2009
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| Posted: Sun Dec 06, 2009 8:29 pm Post subject: |
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| On the other hand wrote: |
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| So the bus driver was under no obligation to serve in english, unless it's a policy of Montreal transit. But, it's sounds like the bus driver was mean-spirited and over-reacted. But I don't know what really happened. |
As I noted earlier, it seems that the ejection came AFTER he had gotten into an argument with the driver about which language she should speak. I'd like to know how exactly how that argument transpired. |
Regardless of any argument the individual had with a bus driver, demanding other passengers get off seems impossible to justify. I could understand her asking the individual in question to get off of the bus if she felt he was being too problematic; he was after all insisting that she serve him in English, which it seems she's not required to do. However, demanding everyone get off of the bus seems like a ridiculous temper tantrum. |
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thomas pars
Joined: 29 Jan 2009
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| Posted: Sun Dec 06, 2009 9:24 pm Post subject: |
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I used to live in montreal. And things like this would happen every now and again. incidentally i lived a few street over from where this took place. it is a large Anglophone speaking area. In the 5 years i lived there i discovered 3 basic truths about the place.
I don't think the Quebs have anything to fear about losing their culturally identity. It is a made up threat by their greasy politicians to exploit peoples fears.
I tried very hard to speak French. I practiced often and studied it in University. I found that most people would answer in English or patronizingly
speak in French. I found if you didn't speak with that dreaded accent you were ignored.
Everyone has this idea about Quebec as some laid back culturally free city. The reality is that is is a cold polluted city and everyone is trapped on that island making each other as miserable as humanly possible. |
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