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Yo......... Canadians..................

Gino

Gino

Premium Subscriber
I have a question....... :Canada 2:


Who or what came first ?? English or French ?? And what percentage of your country is English vs. French ??

Reason is... you guys have been a bilingual country for quite some time. In the last 20 or so years, so are we. However, we're being forced into it by the numbers of Spanish speaking people who refuse to learn our national language.... English.

How did you guys go about deciding what would be what and where to put these signs for all the non-speaking one or the other languages ??


I'm hoping this doesn't become an NHB thread, so if we could keep this on the lighter side... I'm sure all involved would appreciate it.



Inquiring minds would like to know. :peace!:
​
 
G

genericname

New Member
I don't have time to reply properly to this right now, though I probably will tonight after work, but for the time being...


:popcorn:
 
gabagoo

gabagoo

New Member
OK I am propably wrong but here goes....

I think originally Canada was settled by the French fur trappers in what is now known as Quebec. Did not Cabot discover Canada First? I am not sure but that would have been back in the 16th or 17th century.
Canada became a Dominion in 1867 by the English and one has to assume all the french were already in Quebec at the time so somewhere along the line they must have come up with the bilingual solution to keep them somewhat satisfied in joining confederation.

Technically we should all be speaking native Indian, shouldn't we? It was there land that we took.

As to the Spanish in the USA, I can only think that they probably live in communities that are largely spanish speaking and have no need to speak English except when they leave the community.
I am not saying it is right but we have the same thing happening up here, especially in large metropolitan areas.
Our country is continually growing through immigration and we have pockets of different nationalities that speak their mother tongue.
I think over the long term the 2nd and 3rd generations of their children basically grow up as english only speaking Canadians.
 
C

CanuckSigns

Active Member
I believe the french were here first, they occupied most of what is now quebec and the maritime provinces, the english defeated them in the seven-years war and as a result the french were pushed into Quebec.

the only officially bi-lingual province is New Brunswick (Quebec is officially only french, the rest is officially only english) about 20% of Canadians speak french as their first language, i don't think many speak it as their only language.

Federally Canada is Bi-Lingual, you can be served at any federal government office anywhere in the country in either English or French.

Quebec has a very controversial sign law in that all signs in the province of Quebec must have french displayed more prominently than English, and i don't believe English is even needed to be on the sign (Quebec residents correct me if i'm wrong) which is in direct violation of the signs in the rest of the country which must have english and french ('m talking of signs such as street signs here, not business signs)

anything else you need to know?
 
Tim Kingston

Tim Kingston

New Member
Gino said:
I have a question....... :Canada 2:


Who or what came first ?? English or French ?? And what percentage of your country is English vs. French ??

Reason is... you guys have been a bilingual country for quite some time. In the last 20 or so years, so are we. However, we're being forced into it by the numbers of Spanish speaking people who refuse to learn our national language.... English.

How did you guys go about deciding what would be what and where to put these signs for all the non-speaking one or the other languages ??


I'm hoping this doesn't become an NHB thread, so if we could keep this on the lighter side... I'm sure all involved would appreciate it.



Inquiring minds would like to know. :peace!:
​
Click to expand...

Neither, first it was the Vikings. And, of course, the native populations were here thousands of years before that. French is the answer to your question.
They came here first:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/champlainanniversary/acadiapov.html

By the way, New Brunswick is Canada's only official bi-lingual province. Here on the Miramichi River we are French, English, Scottish, Mikmaq and more. Just last night was the big pow-wow and a few days ago we celebrated being Canada's Irish capital. The highland games are coming soon.

I think the key is to be tolerant of minorities.Celebrate your differences. After all, English may be a minority language in your country, one day. Perhaps, that day is sooner than you think. Not to, you know, throw flames on the fire or anything!:Big Laugh
 
Tim Aucoin

Tim Aucoin

New Member
Don't forget the British reign in Canada... we do after all have the Queen of England on all of our currency. God Save The Queen use to be one of our official anthems (years ago).

As far as the French aspect goes... I'm French Canadian and I haven't a friggin' clue who came first! :omg: I don't speak the language (French that is), and I don't agree that the country should be FORCED to be bilingual! I respect Quebec and its people... I know some very good people in Quebec (hi Baz!!), but please don't force the language on the rest of the country! By law, pretty much everything has to have both languages printed on it. Food labels, government documents, manuals, etc... I'm in Alberta... we all speak, read and understand English. Heck, I'm sure 99.9% of Quebec residents also read, speak and understand English perfectly also! Save paper... save money... save time... don't force companies to be bilingual! If it's manufactured in or sold in Quebec, then sure, have at 'er! Load it up with French! Parlé vous?!! :covereyes:

Please don't hate me Quebec people! :smile: No disrespect intended at all... it's just my opinion. Maybe I'm just upset because French was the ONLY class in school I ever got an "F" on! I guess as a youngster I didn't appreciate being forced to learn a language I'd never need to know!

We could really learn a thing or two from Australia! And hey... how come we still have the queen on our money? What's wrong with our Prime Ministers? Although, I wouldn't mind seeing The Dutchess (Kate) on our currency... wouldn't be too hard to look at!! :loveya::loveya:
 

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oldgoatroper

oldgoatroper

Roper of Goats. Old ones.
T3 said:
By law, pretty much everything has to have both languages printed on it. Food labels, government documents, manuals, etc... I'm in Alberta... we all speak, read and understand English. Heck, I'm sure 99.9% of Quebec residents also read, speak and understand English perfectly also! Save paper... save money... save time... don't force companies to be bilingual! If it's manufactured in or sold in Quebec, then sure, have at 'er! Load it up with French!
Click to expand...


A french military friend of mine who feels the same way you do once told me that the cost of translating all the the manuals of all of the systems on Canada's frigate program (supplied by the manufacturers in English) to French was the same as the purchase price of of a single complete frigate. They could have had eleven frigates instead of ten. As it is, he says nobody, not even French crew, uses the French manuals...
 
S

signswi

New Member
There's no national language in America but that's probably a NHB topic. Here in Wisconsin, like our northern neighbors, the first Euro settlers were French. Many of our cities have either French or Algonquin names so Quebec has never seemed that puzzling. Frankly it's probably a great environment to be a sign shop in ;P.
 
R08

R08

New Member
Ironically I went on a sales call to a local hospital who needs some signs changed to bilingual.

I was born in Quebec and my first language is french but I am almost totally square-head ... I mean english-speaking now (wife and kids all english)

As far as laws for English & French signs it seems a bit convaluted.
Federal Offices are all bilingual.
Most provincial matters are bilingual (at least here in Ontario)
It is the law for a lot of services to be provided in both languages like airports

Recently a couple was awarded $12,000 for not being served in French by Air Canada.
http://www.cbc.ca/m/rich/politics/story/2011/07/13/air-canada-languages-lawsuit.html

Most restaurants in Ontario are single language but apparently in Quebec it's against the law to have an English-only sign for any business ( but probably French-only is ok)

Personally I think Quebec should be allowed to have their french language but it should be up to communities to decide if there is enough demand for the language in their particular area.
 
CES020

CES020

New Member
Correct me if things have changed, but when I worked up there a few times in the past, in Sherbrooke, outside Montreal, they were actually removing the bilingual road signs and putting up just the French signs. I would go into a restaurant, speak English when being seated and they would hand me a menu in French. I'd ask for the English menu and they'd gladly provide one. I asked about it and was told that they were not allowed to give the English menus without someone asking for it.

They were rapidly trying to take back their French language from what it appeared to me.

That was probably from 1999-2001 when I was traveling there for business.

Does that ring a bell with anyone? Or was I misinformed. I know the sign part is right because it was getting to be a bear to drive without knowing the language the last time I went.
 
Spud Murphy

Spud Murphy

New Member
Your Mom is so dumb that she tried to minimize a 12 variable function to a minimal sum of products expression using a Karnaugh map instead of the Quine-McCluskey algorithm


....oops! I thought this thread was "Yo Comedians"
 
Baz

Baz

New Member
Ok ... I'm not googling anything so i may (probably will make some mistakes).The french were here first (the country as we know it .. not talking about before) not long after the english came as well. There was a war in which the french finally lost on the Plains of Abraham in Québec City (a must city to visit IMO!). Then Canada became a British colony. The majority of french speaking canadians do live in Québec but there are also many in the maritime provinces and i think excluding Newfoundland their proportions are almost 50/50. Correct me if i'm wrong but i think there is also a large french speaking area in Alberta. Plus allot of french people in Ontario. So the french IMO are pretty spread out across the country.

Now as far as official bilingualism our government is in majority represented by Ontario and Québec. These two provinces i think are almost 50% of the population. So the french have been very well intrenched in government. Also many of of our Prime ministers came from Québec (like them or not). The french speaking population is very protective of it's language and being a minority had to be and is very vocal to have it's demands met. In Québec it has been even more drastic with the french sign laws in which french has to be dominant over english and yes french only signs are accepted except in federal jurisdictions. I think road signs are a provincial matter and in Québec i have seen many french only signs. I can't even think of a bilingual one. Should the federal government be forced to be bilingual? Well now that we have it in place i say yes. If we decided to cancel it i think it would create an even bigger divide. I don't think we need to go that route.

Personnaly i am not a separatist since i believe we are stronger together. But i do feel that french especially in Québec are very different from our english compatriots. Not saying anything bad about either side since i love both my french and english friends very much. Could be any person from any part of the world. A good person is a good person. But yes we are all different and we should embrace that.

In regards to being bilingual in the US with english and spanish. Well .. I don't know ... These spanish speaking people are arriving in greater numbers nowadays and are making their demands heard louder and louder. Personnaly if i was a US citizen i would want to force these people to at least learn basic english. Having a federal policy on bilingualism? no ... To frikin expensive and it would be a waste in many parts of the country. Maybee it would be a good policy for certain areas (southern Cali., Arizona, New Mexico) it would benefit all concerned IMO. If people communicate together they can live together better. But it shouldn't be policy across the country.

Edited: Hi to you to Tim!! my english speaking, monarchy loving friend! lol.
 
Tim Aucoin

Tim Aucoin

New Member
Baz said:
Ok ... I'm not googling anything so i may (probably will make some mistakes).The french were here first (the country as we know it .. not talking about before) not long after the english came as well. There was a war in which the french finally lost on the Plains of Abraham in Québec City (a must city to visit IMO!). Then Canada became a British colony. The majority of french speaking canadians do live in Québec but there are also many in the maritime provinces and i think excluding Newfoundland their proportions are almost 50/50. Correct me if i'm wrong but i think there is also a large french speaking area in Alberta. Plus allot of french people in Ontario. So the french IMO are pretty spread out across the country.

Now as far as official bilingualism our government is in majority represented by Ontario and Québec. These two provinces i think are almost 50% of the population. So the french have been very well intrenched in government. Also many of of our Prime ministers came from Québec (like them or not). The french speaking population is very protective of it's language and being a minority had to be and is very vocal to have it's demands met. In Québec it has been even more drastic with the french sign laws in which french has to be dominant over english and yes french only signs are accepted except in federal jurisdictions. I think road signs are a provincial matter and in Québec i have seen many french only signs. I can't even think of a bilingual one. Should the federal government be forced to be bilingual? Well now that we have it in place i say yes. If we decided to cancel it i think it would create an even bigger divide. I don't think we need to go that route.

Personnaly i am not a separatist since i believe we are stronger together. But i do feel that french especially in Québec are very different from our english compatriots. Not saying anything bad about either side since i love both my french and english friends very much. Could be any person from any part of the world. A good person is a good person. But yes we are all different and we should embrace that.

In regards to being bilingual in the US with english and spanish. Well .. I don't know ... These spanish speaking people are arriving in greater numbers nowadays and are making their demands heard louder and louder. Personnaly if i was a US citizen i would want to force these people to at least learn basic english. Having a federal policy on bilingualism? no ... To frikin expensive and it would be a waste in many parts of the country. Maybee it would be a good policy for certain areas (southern Cali., Arizona, New Mexico) it would benefit all concerned IMO. If people communicate together they can live together better. But it shouldn't be policy across the country.

Edited: Hi to you to Tim!! my english speaking, monarchy loving friend! lol.
Click to expand...

Wow! That's a very good "Coles Notes" version Baz! :clapping: I never was big into history growing up, but as I get older, I'm learning to respect it more and more! All I know is that in my little pea sized mind, I don't let borders separate good people and good friends... whether it be provincial borders or Country borders! :Big Laugh
 
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