🚀 go-pugleaf

Michele (Michele@me.com) wrote:
quoting another post:

: > That's true.  No one should be forced to learn another language. For
: > most Anglos French is a waist of time because all the French speak
: > English, =

: That is a very prejudiced comment to make. Why should all the people in
: Quebec be EXPECTED to speak english? It's okay for people who speak
: english not to speak french so why cant it be the other way around. At
: least the french make the effort to speak english which is more than i
: can say for most other canadians. =

Well, it isn't true that all the French in Quebec speak English.

However, enough of them do - they do so because they have chosen to learn
English for a personal economic advantage. For access to the money held by
all those English Canadians and all those Americans who speak English. Not
because they have been forced to, or expected to.

The English have not been under the compulsion to make such an effort: and
it is a big effort, so it is not a thing to be surprised at that they have
not.

People don't voluntarily make huge sacrifices of their time and effort so
that other people who are slightly disadvantaged can enjoy full equality:
we have the government to force people to do such things. Prejudice has
nothing to do with it; English speakers decline to learn French not
because they think French is a poor language, or people of French origin
are stupid or something, but because it is work that doesn't bring a
profit.

Why do so many Mexicans learn English, while so few Americans learn
Spanish? Money and jobs.

Or do you genuinely think that, after so much abuse and bigotry from
English Canada, still, because the goodness of their hearts is so great,
French Canadians are learning to speak English as a gesture of goodwill,
as a duty for keeping the country together, and then they turn around and
vote Yes in the referendums?

Whether someone is English or French, even a kind and generous person must
spend most of his time on the selfish pursuit of earning a living for
himself and his family. The French have been in the unfortunate situation
of needing to include, in many cases, learning English as part of this
important task.

I don't deny that this is something they have a right to be annoyed about.
But it is a situation that results from the disparity in numbers, not from
active bigotry or government discrimination.

John Savard