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GeneralRe: (don't go there) Pin
User 842015-Apr-19 2:43
User 842015-Apr-19 2:43 
GeneralRe: (don't go there) Pin
Mark_Wallace15-Apr-19 8:24
Mark_Wallace15-Apr-19 8:24 
GeneralRe: For the french speakers out there... Pin
W Balboos, GHB15-Apr-19 2:29
W Balboos, GHB15-Apr-19 2:29 
GeneralRe: For the french speakers out there... Pin
CodeWraith15-Apr-19 3:03
CodeWraith15-Apr-19 3:03 
GeneralRe: For the french speakers out there... Pin
W Balboos, GHB15-Apr-19 3:09
W Balboos, GHB15-Apr-19 3:09 
GeneralRe: For the french speakers out there... Pin
Daniel Pfeffer15-Apr-19 4:15
professionalDaniel Pfeffer15-Apr-19 4:15 
GeneralRe: For the french speakers out there... Pin
W Balboos, GHB15-Apr-19 4:16
W Balboos, GHB15-Apr-19 4:16 
GeneralRe: For the french speakers out there... Pin
dandy7215-Apr-19 5:33
dandy7215-Apr-19 5:33 
W∴ Balboos wrote:
French Speakers Out There . . .

. . . the language is dying - I suggest you find an alternative and bale as soon as possible.  


There's already a rather viable alternative.

My folks watch the news in French (they live in Eastern Ontario, right across the border from Quebec), and it always amuses me that TVA Nouvelles (their biggest news broadcaster) has been running commercials for years from some company that teaches English.

One commercial shows some 30-something woman getting home and listening to her training material on her phone, which starts off with some basics like "I have a car" (the running joke being that every time the commercial comes on, it's a competition to determine who's going to be the first one to shout "I HAVE A CAR!").

I find it appalling that, this being a bilingual country, Quebecers have to resort to private companies to teach them basic stuff that like.

In another commercial, two women (same age group) are jogging (starts off with one saying to the other, "so I hear you got your promotion") and are accosted by some guy asking, in English, for directions to a restaurant - first one replies (in French) "sorry, I don't speak English"; the second one jumps in and gives him simple directions and he's on his way. The first one then asks the second (in the overacting way only commercial actors can) "SINCE WHEN DO YOU SPEAK ENGLISH!??!". The point they're trying to get across is that if you speak English, you're the one who's going to be promoted.

I could understand how some older people in the province might have missed the opportunity to learn in English in school - one of my cousin's father-in-law, in his 60s, who lives all his life in Quebec, says he would love to speak it, but that it wasn't an option back in his day. But when 30-somethings today - who finished school less than a decade ago - still can't get by with a few fundamental sentences...there's something wrong.

That same news program never misses an opportunity to sound the alarm and report that French is "losing ground" somehow. Is it? Even if that was true...they really can't afford to continue to isolate themselves from the rest of the world, at a time where they're trying to have a presence on the global market. Learning English doesn't mean you somehow "lose your French". It's not one or the other.

[rant over]
GeneralRe: For the french speakers out there... Pin
W Balboos, GHB15-Apr-19 5:46
W Balboos, GHB15-Apr-19 5:46 
GeneralRe: For the french speakers out there... Pin
dandy7215-Apr-19 12:21
dandy7215-Apr-19 12:21 
GeneralRe: For the french speakers out there... Pin
phil.o15-Apr-19 4:32
professionalphil.o15-Apr-19 4:32 
General"Finger Pointing" Pin
super14-Apr-19 23:02
professionalsuper14-Apr-19 23:02 
GeneralRe: "Finger Pointing" Pin
OriginalGriff14-Apr-19 23:18
mveOriginalGriff14-Apr-19 23:18 
GeneralRe: "Finger Pointing" Pin
CodeWraith14-Apr-19 23:21
CodeWraith14-Apr-19 23:21 
GeneralRe: "Finger Pointing" Pin
Sander Rossel15-Apr-19 5:07
professionalSander Rossel15-Apr-19 5:07 
GeneralRe: "Finger Pointing" Pin
OriginalGriff15-Apr-19 5:22
mveOriginalGriff15-Apr-19 5:22 
GeneralRe: "Finger Pointing" Pin
Sander Rossel15-Apr-19 5:24
professionalSander Rossel15-Apr-19 5:24 
GeneralRe: "Finger Pointing" Pin
CodeWraith14-Apr-19 23:19
CodeWraith14-Apr-19 23:19 
GeneralRe: "Finger Pointing" Pin
Rage14-Apr-19 23:34
professionalRage14-Apr-19 23:34 
GeneralRe: "Finger Pointing" Pin
super15-Apr-19 0:05
professionalsuper15-Apr-19 0:05 
GeneralRe: "Finger Pointing" Pin
den2k8814-Apr-19 23:39
professionalden2k8814-Apr-19 23:39 
GeneralRe: "Finger Pointing" Pin
GKP199214-Apr-19 23:43
professionalGKP199214-Apr-19 23:43 
GeneralRe: "Finger Pointing" Pin
Super Lloyd15-Apr-19 0:14
Super Lloyd15-Apr-19 0:14 
GeneralRe: "Finger Pointing" Pin
CodeWraith15-Apr-19 0:54
CodeWraith15-Apr-19 0:54 
GeneralRe: "Finger Pointing" Pin
kalberts15-Apr-19 1:56
kalberts15-Apr-19 1:56 

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