Blue Spohist said:"I assume Quebeckers can speak some English, otherwise they couldn't function in an Anglophone nation. Time to catch up and learn the language" Actually Blue mon ami your assumption is not entirely correct. I visited Montreal many times when my son was a student at McGill and was often very surprised by the number of Quebecois who have little or no English. If you go to a nice department store like Holt-Renfrew or Ogilvy the staff, of course, speak English. When you go to many small shops both in the city and in the suburbs and rural areas many of the staff have very little (if any) English. The teenage girl at the counter of the Tim Horton's doughnut shop outside the city is quite likely to have no English. There are very strict laws about business signs. Anywhere in the world (including France) a KFC is a KFC but if you want greasy fried chicken in Quebec look for the "PFK" sign. All over the world the traffic sign for "no parking "is a circle with a red bar across the letter P. Except Quebec where the signs have an S with a bar instead. After all "Parking" is an English word and the sign must show the initial for "Stationment". I have to feel sorry for kids in Quebec who have not been taught English as so many job opportunities are closed off to them. Quebec also has a numbe of French words not used in France. A small market/convenience store is a "depanier" in Quebec.

Thanks for that deeper understanding of the scenario. How sad, and how wilfully self-excluding from the rest of the nation.

So unlike Greater DC, where the Somalis, Afghans, Japanese, Koreans, Hispanics and various other nationalities seem capable of communicating in English.

BTW, in Norway it's "Parkering" ...

Originally Posted by DavidBOC

Blue Spohist said:"I assume Quebeckers can speak some English, otherwise they couldn't function in an Anglophone nation. Time to catch up and learn the language" Actually Blue mon ami your assumption is not entirely correct. I visited Montreal many times when my son was a student at McGill and was often very surprised by the number of Quebecois who have little or no English. If you go to a nice department store like Holt-Renfrew or Ogilvy the staff, of course, speak English. When you go to many small shops both in the city and in the suburbs and rural areas many of the staff have very little (if any) English. The teenage girl at the counter of the Tim Horton's doughnut shop outside the city is quite likely to have no English. There are very strict laws about business signs. Anywhere in the world (including France) a KFC is a KFC but if you want greasy fried chicken in Quebec look for the "PFK" sign. All over the world the traffic sign for "no parking "is a circle with a red bar across the letter P. Except Quebec where the signs have an S with a bar instead. After all "Parking" is an English word and the sign must show the initial for "Stationment". I have to feel sorry for kids in Quebec who have not been taught English as so many job opportunities are closed off to them. Quebec also has a numbe of French words not used in France. A small market/convenience store is a "depanier" in Quebec.

Either that, or they were prized pricks who refused to speak English (yes, there's still those Levesque/PQ holdouts who still haven't abandoned the idea that the world will still bow and kiss their ring for speaking only in French.) And sorry, but as my joual only goes so far, I always thought it was a "Depanneur". Couldn't give a toss what its proper name is (in terms of masculine/feminine), as I only care that it's one place where I can buy beer for dirt cheap.

Gun Brickie - Sure you are right on the spelling of convenience store, only saw it on signs back when the boy was living there. Prices back then 2000+ were great if you were from the US due to value of CA$ vs US$ although now they are close to par. I used to shop there a lot and once even brought a toilet home in a box clearly marked "NOT FOR SALE OR USE IN THE USA" When the Customs man asked what I had bought in Canada I told him three cases of steak sauce and a toilet and he raised his eyebrows a bit but let me through.

Originally Posted by BuggerAll

I was interested to meet a French Canadian officer who did a 3 year posting in a UK training establishment. When he arrived his ability to communicate in English was limited. On paper he may well have been qualified in English but it was very hard to understand him and he had a great deal of difficulty understanding what people said to him which surprised me as he had worked in bi-lingual environments in Canada. His English was much much better when he left.

Corporate laziness and racism which assumes all Froggies are naturally qualified to speak English by virtue that they are french 1st speakers. The Canadian Govt and public service is riddled with this laziness. I have a relative (spit) who speaks 5 languages but conducts all business in Ottawa in frenc. Its the same in Puerto rico only with Spanish. the law says to grauate you have to speak English, no public jobs are available unless you speak english and graduate high school ergo all cops speak English. great fun on the hols refusing to understand them when they struggle with a UK paper license.

Ah Quebec, the only province that can laugh in the face of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, and be proud being condemned by the UN. If I go into a store in Montreal, i'll be greeted by "Bonjour, Hello," if they don't say "bonjour" and a language cop (yes they exist) hears them, the store will be fined, and possibly shut down for violating language laws. Its the same with signs for stores, French has to be on top, and larger then the English. It's ridiculous.

A note of the break down of the CF. While in theory it's 2/3 Anglo 1/3 French and broken up by units, it doesn't really work out that way. If you were to walk into the officers mess in Valcartier, you would be surprised at the amount of English being spoken. The fact of the matter is there is a lack of French Canadian officers in the combat arms units in 5 Brigade, now you can read into that how you want (not invested in the country and all that), but I've always done a double take when I see a pack of young officers with beavers on their hats talking English.

Just to give the Canadians a rest for the moment, an American friend of ours in Virginia was looking for a job as a Doctor's Receptionist [as she had some substantial previous experience, and wanted a change of job]. She could not get anywhere, as one of the requirements was the ability to speak Spanish. You will imagine she was not well pleased.

Originally Posted by blue-sophist

Just to give the Canadians a rest for the moment, an American friend of ours in Virginia was looking for a job as a Doctor's Receptionist [as she had some substantial previous experience, and wanted a change of job]. She could not get anywhere, as one of the requirements was the ability to speak Spanish. You will imagine she was not well pleased.

There's a difference. Poltice wallopers in the states are private enterprise. If the customers (patients) speak Spanish then they need Spanish speaking staff. The requirement to speak French in Canada is driven by politics not necessity.

Difference acknowledged, of course.
I assume NHS employees are not generally required to speak Urdu?

Originally Posted by blue-sophist

Difference acknowledged, of course.
I assume NHS employees are not generally required to speak Urdu?

Not required, but a great many do anyway.... At the hospital where my wife works, in England, there are at lesat 30 nationalities on the staff, and that's only the full-time staff. If you added the contractors, cleaners and the like, I'd say to double that at least. all speak english of some sort...

Back to the Canucks - having worked with them on Ops, they are almost universally great blokes. The only exception I knew was a Quebecker, who insisted on talking Frog at all opportunities, and often as not when everyone else was speaking english. It's not even proper Frog, either, as the Frog Officers pointed out to him more than once. He said that what he spoke was 'real' Frog, and that they were wrong. They didn't appreciate this. It's the same as someone from Appalachia saying that they speak 'real' english - true, in that their accent and many of their words are far closer to 17th C English than is the version that we speak today, but does that make it more 'real'?

And Poutine is vile, disgusting muck.