English has become the language of everything | The Corner Booth

Aaron Rand, Bill Brownstein and Leslie Chesterman host Mario Polese, professor emeritus at INRS, a research university, on The Corner Booth at the Snowdon Deli in Montreal on Friday May 3, 2024.

[@ratoftoska7497]

Respect to the guest who doesn't fall into the same talking point traps the hosts have used on almost every episode I've watched. We're always called "close-minded" as Québécois, but here is a seemingly worldly and traveled individual sharing and explaining concerns francophone Québécois have to the dismay of some on the panel. Also, just as a reminder, while they might not be perfect, Québec offers francisation classes which include financial aid from the government. Some immigrants are even eligible to financial aid for francisation before they even arrive in the country. Not to forget OUR WHOLE EDUCATION SYSTEM. What is Aaron getting at by saying that the government doesn't make learning french accessible, and why is investing into more francisation now problematic then? Can someone who speaks angryphone translate for me?

[@trevorchabot864]

How did you miss the start where he says french isn't cool? Since when has forcing people to do something, made people want to do it? Why are you so mad that the minority in this province made the best schools and hospitals? Why do you need to take away minority rights to save your fragile egos? You're a fasciphone, you speak fascism, you support helicopter government, you need Legault to change your diapers, answer some of these questions!

[@nikolaosmoustakas3964]

Since you seem to be a little confused, let me give you some impartial insights what he meant. As someone who did 1 year of French classes with the fractionization program, i have to say it leave a lot to be desired. As a non immigrant, only few available school were allowed to accept me, non of them near my house. The part time program was 8 15- 12 45, 5 days a week and the full time had an additional 3 hours a day from 2-5pm. If someone wanted to learn French, they had to do full time since the morning classes provide no real ability to practice. The professors were not making the process any easier. They were restricted from speaking not French to explain even basic words and the materials given to teach were to put it lightly "lazy and not well thought". Most of them were fairly old and lacked the drive to teach younger people. There were many days that they were teaching 1h worth of material only but they had to keep us for 4h otherwise the government wouldn't provide funding the the school. As someone who had to balance university full time and go to part time, i was very exhausted at the end of the day to find my own resources to practice the language on my own. The pay wasn't much better either. I was paid little under 9$/h and those in full time under 12$/h and they realistically had very little time to work part time if they needed. To put it in simpler words, those programs can work if the individual has nothing else to do, is financially stable and has a strong drive to learn and practice a difficult language on their own. What the Aaron was getting is that the government has made the process a hassle in every level of the process and he would wish it was more streamlined and resourceful. I hope my insights were of use!

[@ratoftoska7497]

@@nikolaosmoustakas3964 I'm not confused, and I said that they weren't perfect. It costs money to run those programs, and to run them well, yet the panel is criticizing the govt for spending more money on francisation. I'm trying to see the logic, other than just being critical of everything French language related. Maybe they should've gone in detail into why the money isn't being allocated properly, instead of just criticizing the "big scary number." Listen, the government is paying people to learn the common language; that's already insane. No one said it was easy, either, or that the programs were perfectly structured for everyone. It's probably quite hard to find quality educators for the jobs as well as adapting the courses for people with varying levels of fluency, learning capabilities, jobs, etc. If you're a non-immigrant, like you said, you're either from Québec or from Canada, outside Québec. If you're from Québec, you had the possibility of going to school in French immersion. Even if you went to English school, you're still supposed to have decent French proficiency to pass the ministry exams and get your diploma. If you're from another province and chose to come live here, some responsibility lies on you and on the province from which you came, especially if your province does offer French classes in school. Québec can't do everything for everyone all at once. I never went to English school, and I never got paid to learn English; I just went through the French education system and took the English classes in the curriculum.

[@nikolaosmoustakas3964]

@@ratoftoska7497 I grew up abroad and came back to QC where my mother is from by choice. I tried learning French by choice as well. I want to keep learning but after a year on the system, it has become not viable through it. There is nothing "insane" about paying to promote the French language from my side as long as is meaningful. The government has done a good thing and I only wish they improve it for those who want to learn French. It is not a simple nor easy task but if the government wants to boast of its contribution to the French language, it is THE first sector they should focus on. Sadly they seem to put the least effort into it; but what do I know of running a government. They shall do what they shall do.

[@ratoftoska7497]

@@nikolaosmoustakas3964 I empathize with your situation. I'm not here to criticize you. I'm just wondering why the podcast hosts seem to have a problem with the government investing 603m$ in these measures if they can help with better francisation (not that it necessarily will ― time will tell). I could be totally wrong and the money could be wasted. I'm just saying that the hosts only seem to care about "wow 603m$, that is so much money we could be using elsewhere," when it isn't that much money over 5 years for a GDP the size of Québec. The only criticism I heard from them was that some of the money is going towards helping temporary immigrants learn French, which can be considered fair criticism. The only thing I disagree with you on is that it is quite unusual to pay people to learn a language. For example, the federal government can provide language courses for free, but they do not pay people to take them.

[@lorrainebeaton1801]

No matter how much money the government puts forth for French preservation etc, the problem is that there are not enough teachers or classes available to teach French to non-speakers. Many immigrants are on year long waiting lists to access French classes. They have a limited amount of time with which to learn French and are thus at a huge disadvantage. So this money will go where?

[@giovanniiaquinta880]

why is it the choice of Gov and not the people

[@passatboi]

Pick any country in the western world where immigrants go. NO ONE moves to Germany and automatically knows German. No one moves to Denmark and speaks Danish right away. If they know a bit of English, people in stores help them out. Their children will speak the language, though. So don't look at people moving here. It takes a generation. It's not like all the kids in Québec aren't learning French. They're not going to English schools. So the survey asking "Quelle langue parlez-vous à la maison" is not a good data point. No immigrant family speaks the language of the country at home. They speak their own language. So yes, by that metric, French "at home" has declined. But if their children have a family in QC, that family will speak French.

[@yveslorange6485]

@@passatboi no but the must learn the national languages only in Québec that rule dont apply

[@passatboi]

@ The official language of Quebec is French. Children of immigrants learn French at school. They’re not going to English schools and only speaking English.

[@trevorchabot864]

Why do my comments get shadowed? I give everyone the RESPECT they've EARNED.

[@scotthullinger4684]

You no doubt get shadowed by idiots who believe they're omniscient. Let's just get used to it, only because such behavior is very common and typical.

[@voxer99]

The show is called the Corner Booth but you're only at the corner booth in the intro. The rest of the time you're in some sort of line-up, all facing the camera. It's awkward and uncomfortable. You should be sitting in a circle or semi-circle and looking at each other. Look at Bill Maher's show as a model.

[@Techgnome21]

All this is a waste of money. The problem is, you can't stop the spread of English. Its a world language.You'd end up isolating yourself from the rest of the world. Let the people decide. Bring people together, instead of dividing them.

[@Christian_Martel]

This discussion is a bit of fresh air because this expert is not there to sell talking points to the many political movements within Quebec.

[@BlazejMarczak]

Terrible audio quality. What kind of idea is that too record in a busy place with so much background noise?

[@SVParadigme20]

Love these talks!!

[@mdogzino]

Dumb idea to have a podcast with so much background noise.

[@trevorchabot864]

are you easily distracted?

[@lindabrouillette6765]

No but he. speak in a very l 4:05 low voice which makes it difficult to hear, sometimes he seems to be mumbling.

[@geoffreydarwentartconnexu]

The two solitudes

[@yveslorange6485]

Fakes news from the gazette on st Catherine corner st Mathieu marché newon more than 25 employes no one a Word of french

[@mvorion]

As usual lol

[@lindabrouillette6765]

Aaron Rand doesn't know 0:05 that.

[@yveslorange6485]

Anglos are the master race in mtl que su mépris pour les québécois

[@mvorion]

C'est dans leurs gènes lol

[@davidschultz29]

Such bigotry.

[@yveslorange6485]

@davidschultz29 you got that one right que du mépris you yankee wanna be

[@giovanniiaquinta880]

show the people how they earase english history in quebec how can we coexist with that reality ungrateful population and gov.

[@yveslorange6485]

Full of it marché newon en plein centre-ville st Catherine et stmathieu 25 employés aucun be comprend le français thats à fact😂

[@martinemjt]

myself i don t understand why provincial leaders do not work on a consensus to have all schools in canada bilingual ? lots of problems would be solved!! but i guess that would be too simple!

[@lindabrouillette6765]

I have lived in BC and in Ontario, and trust me, the majority of anglophones could't care less about french. Why? Because French is practically nonexistant in their province!!! With whom are they supposed to speak french? This concept of bilingualism in Canada doesn't work!! No matter what language you speak, if you don't use it, you lose it!!!! Besides, Doug Ford fiercely opposed the construction of a french University in Ontario! What are you talking about? Explain yourself! Quebec is the only province that is almost 50 percent bilingual, look at the stastics. The rest of Canada is about 8 percent bilingual. Look at the statistics!!!!!

[@DonaldMains]

Why would anyone from western Canada want to learn French? It's a "dead" language like Latin in western Canada. No one ever uses the French taught in school to communicate on the street.. That's a lot of effort for no practical purposes.

[@Versat1l]

It was already tried. Canada didn't deliver.

[@martinemjt]

@@Versat1l maybe it could be tried again!

[@Versat1l]

@@martinemjt It's been tried several times already. Everyone knows the result. There's only one solution left.

[@huyliemtran9899]

Bonjour / Hi / Ney Ho / Chào, if you force me to speak in French, I won’t speak to people at shopping centre anymore, it’s over, forever (yi hao yune). Merci / Thanks / Thank You / 多謝 / Cám Ơn.

[@mayeu]

Quand tu vis en Allemagne, tu parles allemand. Quand tu vis au Japon, tu parles japonais. Quand tu vis en France, tu parles français. Pourquoi le fait de demander de parler français au Québec (voir même au Canada) serait un problème ? L’anglais est une solution pour se faire comprendre mais ne doit pas être l’unique langue sur la planète

[@mvorion]

​@@mayeuouin lui on m'a dit qu'il a un léger handicap lol, il est partout ici

[@robin-bq1lz]

Un autre idiot angryphone…🙄🙄🙄

[@trevorchabot864]

@@mayeu when you live in Canada, you speak english. When you live in United States, you speak english. Thanks for making that clear. Quebec asking everyone else to respect minority rights. Ridiculous. Quebec trying to pull the 'pure wool' over everyone's eyes.

[@yveslorange6485]

We dont force you to adress québécois in french and dont force you to stay in the economic and cultural métropole of Québec not new jersey so.integratw or move to platsburg

[@HanumanMattie]

English is THE global language. Wanna join the world or stay confined to, say, Chicoutami?

[@benoitboucher626]

So from there Italian, Spanniard , Greek, Portugues should all gave up there language &culture?🤔

[@demetriospassialis5087]

Have you ever been there? Many people in Chicoutimi speak 2 or more languages and are very well travelled, what about you, you speak only english? If you come to Greece and refuse to speak the language and impose your 0:12 English nobody will want to serve you. Who do you think you are?! English 😢

[@yveslorange6485]

@@HanumanMattie you belong platsburg

[@Devinthedrummaster]

Just fund french music concerts

[@lindabrouillette6765]

?

[@Devinthedrummaster]

@@lindabrouillette6765 music is how language and culture is spread. Instead of restricting language pay money to spread and celebrate it.

[@milhouse7145]

From what I hear from most natives Quebecers speaking in Montreal, they alternate every 3rd word fron french to english. Seems like they have resolved the issue already.

[@lindabrouillette6765]

Completely false, if they speak like that, they are not speaking french. They are speak Franglais, that is 0:05 not french, you should educate yourself instead of going by hearsay. (You say "from what i hear",). Sounds so ignorant! I am a French Canadian, born and raised in Montréal, i speak Greek, German and a bit of spanish. I have lived in other french speaking countries. Who are you to tell me what langage i speak, you have nerve! i know what i speak . You know what , you should leave this country you are not worthy to be a Quebecer, nor a Canadian for that matter. You don't have the moral authority to live ik0 this country. Why because you accuse french people whom you don't even know , its sooooo easy to thrash French-canadians onine . You're to cowardly to tell. me what my langage I speak to my face. Imagine telling sonebody what langage they speak!! Wow! This is low. I don"t speak frangais. If tout don't like what hear in the streets of Montréal, usually youg peopke talk like this Then leave!!! oe😢

[@Imsemble]

It's not fixing the issue at all. It's effectively Québécois French becoming a creole. Not a good sign.

[@Versat1l]

That's called assimilation

[@jay7T6]

I wonder if Quebec would be on board for paying to preserve the languages of the native people they displaced. Or did they forget they even existed?

[@mvorion]

What about the indian acts? :') you forget or ??

[@robin-bq1lz]

Ouvre un livre d’histoire une fois dans ta petite vie d’inculte ignorant pathétique, tu vas écrire moins de stupidités d’angryphones morons…j’adore les idiots du village pas éduqué comme toi, c’est trop facile!!👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😁😘

[@chrismarch8693]

The Iroquois were the ones who displaced other native tribes, who came to live closer to french settlenents to get protection and trade with the french. And yes I would gladly pay for native language preservation.

[@jay7T6]

@@anthroponyme-451 We are talking about Quebec. Ffs please follow along

[@jay7T6]

@@mvorion The ones nobody seems to want to follow? Those ones?