Quote:
Originally Posted by Acajack
Quebec rejects bilingualism as a dogma and even sees it as a threat. But on the ground in real life it practices it to a fairly high degree on a practical level.
The ROC generally elevates bilingualism as a great Canadian value and can even be preachy about it, but in real life, other than a few minor exceptions, isn't much better at it than the Americans are.
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That has been my experience from my visits to Quebec. The conversation starts with me attempting to communicate in French, but likely bludgeoning the language to the point that it's offending the person I'm speaking to, followed by them communicating to me in English, often probably speaking in better English than I am...
As I mentioned in a previous post, I "learned" French at a public school level, and actually continued it as an elective in high school because I genuinely was interested and wanted to learn it. However, in day to day life in a non French speaking society there aren't many opportunities to practice the language, much less pick up on intricacies or even understand it when it is spoken quickly as one for whom it is their first language would do.
I don't think it's an even comparison, though, to expect the ROC to have the same degree of bilingualism as someone in Quebec would develop naturally as there are more opportunities (and perhaps necessities?) to learn English because most of the rest of the world, at least within a few thousand kilometers, speaks English as their native language, and if you want to interact with the world around you (either for business, or if you want to partake of the culture), you learn English. I would hazard a guess that most people in Quebec understand at least a small degree of English as a survival technique, if they ever want to travel outside of their province, no?
Hence my postulation regarding the perceived threat in my previous post. i.e. the world around you speaks English, therefore almost by osmosis your culture will be permeated by English. Thus, aggressive tactics become necessary (or at least politically advantageous).
On a side note, I spent much of my career working with people from and in Japan. I learned that, despite Japan having historically been a very isolated society, they are taught English in their schools as a practicality for dealing with a large segment of their business contacts (mostly). I found Japanese to be a very difficult language for me to learn, especially since I would only be immersed in the language for very short periods of time. Likewise, I met Japanese associates who really struggled with English, despite their classes in school. I also knew well some guys who spoke great English - usually the ones who had lived in the US for a few years. Many of them would struggle with English a little when they hadn't been back to North America for some time (but they would quickly get back into the swing of it again). No point here, other than to master a language that's not your native language takes work - you have to learn it, understand it, but more importantly, use it. IMHO, it's almost an unreasonable expectation to expect the ROC to be bilingual when there is no practical use for a second language for most people.
I suppose in retrospect I do wonder if the ROC actually elevates bilingualism as a great Canadian value, though. I think the culture has great history and depth, but I'm not sure that most non-French speaking people even think about it in those terms. I've heard the perspective that visiting Quebec as a tourist offers an opportunity to experience a little bit of Europe without leaving the continent, but I think it is more fluff than anything as Quebec residents are just like any other Canadian once you remove the language thing... in the same way that any other Canadian is not really like any other Canadian, since we are not a monolithic society...
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), yeah. 
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