Quote:
Originally Posted by Aylmer
I sometimes wonder if, on some level, comments like these are based on the assumption that Quebeckers are just anglo Canadians who live in some Province-sized French immersion program. I met someone in Europe who'd just kinda assumed just that. He thought that Quebec was just an English-speaking place where French was tacked on as some sort of cultural program. He assumed it was kinda like Ireland and Irish - a language which was on the road signs and taught as a class, but which isn't widely used in everyday life. And he certainly didn't imagine that a majority of the population would be unilingual in the language.
|
I am again reminded of a South Korean ambassador in Latin America many years ago who, when I told him that half of French-speaking Quebeckers did not speak English, gave me a look of astonishment and exclaimed "(O)n purpose?!".
