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Canada!?

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Werel
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Post by Wondering Thu Oct 22, 2015 1:45 am

bomaye, are you familiar with the Arrogant Worms? And particularly their song "Ontario Sucks"?



Last edited by Wondering on Thu Oct 22, 2015 1:46 pm; edited 1 time in total

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Post by bomaye Thu Oct 22, 2015 2:07 am

I heard that song in like late high school Laughing

(They're totally lying, Alberta does suck Uh-oh)
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Post by Wondering Thu Oct 22, 2015 2:12 am

Banff is pretty nice. Grin

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Post by kath Thu Oct 22, 2015 11:38 am

I was just in Montreal for a week with a bunch of Americans (for a big conference) and I actually felt bad about attempting to use my (very limited, 3 years of high school) French. I felt like I would somehow be walking into a political landmine, that I knew was there but I didn't know what would actually trigger it. Like, if I try to speak very bad French to someone who speaks English as well, would that be worse because it's like pretending I can speak French? I think I was being oversensitive.

People weren't rude about my using English / when people asked if they spoke English, and obviously we were trying hard not to be rude with people whose English wasn't as strong (especially since their English was always better than my French, anyway). I think the problem the BC family might have had would be not being nice about people wanting to speak French.

Interestingly I went on a totally competently delivered tour in English (of a science centre) given by a man who was from France and considered himself not to speak English. That might make me braver next time, because his meaning was totally comprehensible.

I had a pretty good time of travelling somewhere I don't speak the language in Berlin, where most people who were in customer service positions spoke perfectly reasonable English, and where I had a tiny amount of German that served me well in the instances I needed it to, and I could decipher enough signage etc. I felt better about trying and failing in German than I did in French in Canada, as a Canadian. I didn't get the feeling the Americans were as worried about that.

And bomaye is right, in Western Canada, you certainly don't need French to get along at all. So I think it might be a little different than other situations in Europe where the various populations that have various first languages are mixed together. On the streets, you are likely to hear more Mandarin than French spoken. The western Canadians I know who speak French pretty well are generally either Quebecois originally, or were in French immersion.

(also, I love The Toronto Song, and I'm from the wrong part of Alberta :p. Even though I don't think we have lots of trees.)
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Post by Enail Thu Oct 22, 2015 12:07 pm

Just in case I was being confusing, you don't need French to get along in Ontario at all either (unless you're in Ottawa or somewhere right along the border, and even then I'm not sure you will), but since Quebec is closer, there's more opportunity to use it if you want to, so it seems like it's a bit more common to have more French here than out West.

Also, I need to look up the Toronto Song! I'm surprised I didn't know about it, since the friend who introduced me to Arrogant Worms was from Alberta and we liked to jab at each other's hometown.
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Post by Wondering Thu Oct 22, 2015 1:20 pm

Ah, nevermind. I see my confusion is that "Ontario Sucks" is actually called "The Toronto Song." My bad!

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Post by bomaye Thu Oct 22, 2015 7:11 pm

Kath's probably on to something there. I'd feel extremely self-conscious in Quebec with my pitiful French whereas in an entirely different country I'd be less worried because I know I'm a fish out of water.
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Post by kath Sat Oct 24, 2015 2:43 am

I mentioned not needing French in Alberta because it seems like the situation where most people speak most of the languages might occur more in some European countries (especially if the combo of languages is due to changes in power) and there it might make a lot of sense that it would be pretty politically incorrect to not speak one of them. Whereas in Canada, since the primary language is regional, it wouldn't be weird for someone who lives in the part of the country where they mostly speak one language to not know the other at all / not be fluent (including Francophones who don't speak English).

So I don't think you were unclear, Enail, just why what's expected linguistically might be different in Canada than in European countries.
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