Trudeau to Air Canada CEO: "You must learn French!"

[Guest]

Well, some would argue that what's spoken in Canada isn't really French... I remember watching a Quebec TV show in France, and they have to use French subtitles on those shows so that the French can understand what's being said. That being said, here in California, about one in four people speaks Spanish first, so if you have a job which deals with the public (such as a physician), good knowledge of Spanish is really helpful. Where I worked, anyone who wanted to could take an oral exam, and if you could achieve a fairly advanced proficiency, you'd be paid a monthly stipend (since it saved on paying interpreters). That's probably the best way to do it. 

Almost all of my cousins in Brussels would speak with their children in French at home, then send them to Flemish schools, so they'd all be proficient in both of the country's languages. It opens up more job opportunities. "Chris" bragged about me with his friends about how I spoke with the natives in all parts of Switzerland from Luzern to Lugano to Lausanne. I didn't speak Romansch, of course. We're going to Puerto Vallarta in a few days, and I told him he'd be the first person I took to this hotel who didn't speak Spanish as their native language (the last man was a dual US-Mexican citizen, born in Mexico, the one before that a Colombian, and the one prior to that also Colombian). Also helpful if you're kind of into Latinos, too. 

One shouldn't be forced to learn a language if not required for one's job. One should certainly be paid extra if one's linguistic skills saves the company from hiring interpreters. And some jobs, of course, really need a bilingual person. 

https://telelanguage.com/blog/spanish-speakers-united-states-infographic/

"According to a 2015 report by Instituto Cervantes, the United States has the second highest concentration of Spanish speakers in the world, after Mexico. Roughly 53 million people, 41 million native Spanish speakers, and approximately 11.6 million bilingual Spanish Speakers live in the United States.  There are more people speaking Spanish in the U.S. than Spain (47 million speakers) and Colombia (48 million speakers)."

[Guest]

15 hours ago, Luv2play said:

I did not write this.

That is a pesky feature of the new software…the ease of accidentally inserting your own words into quoted text…and the inability to be able to easily undo it (at least for me using an iPad )

Edited November 12, 2021 by BnaC

[Luv2play]

2 hours ago, BnaC said:

That is a pesky feature of the new software…the ease of accidentally inserting your own words into quoted text…and the inability to be able to easily undo it (at least for me using an iPad )

I've encountered the same problem. It's a software glitch. I try deleting the whole text and start over again 

[rvwnsd]

On 11/10/2021 at 10:45 PM, mike carey said:

That a good example of the point I was making about 'another language' being English as an exception. Do you know of these banks required their US employees to learn the language of the bank's home country for rotations there?

 

Can't speak for BBVA or Santander (another foreign-owned bank) but rotations to Japan at my former employer were voluntary and proficiency in Japanese was not required. They would teach expats some basic Japanese phrases. A colleague who did two rotations about four years apart noted that English was more widely spoken the second time around and the Japanese employees were happy to show off their English-language skills. 

[+ Charlie]

When my spouse worked on a project in Singapore with a local architectural firm, he was surprised to discover that all of the professionals spoke English with one another when they were working in the office, although they all went back to their native languages when they went out to lunch.

[+ WilliamM]

19 hours ago, Charlie said:

Before English became the common international language in the 20th century, international relations were normally conducted in French wherever Europeans or those of European ancestry were dominant, regardless of the native language of the speakers. One of the main reasons why Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin were the prominent citizens usually chosen for diplomatic missions to Europe was because they were among the few leading Americans who could speak passable French. (Franklin taught himself French as a young man.) Few Americans then would have imagined that the most common second language in the US in the 21st century would turn out to be Spanish (Franklin thought it would probably be German).

Yes, of course, those who pursue advanced degrees in history must be able to read foreign languages, especially French. I enjoyed a graduate school seminar on 18th century European history and later the causes of The First World War 

 

Actually, I was a terrible student and always regretted living on campus and tempted and, looked forward to every distraction.

[Guest]

3 hours ago, WilliamM said:

...Actually, I was a terrible student and always regretted living on campus and tempted ...

I feel a song coming on...

 

[Luv2play]

17 hours ago, Unicorn said:

Well, some would argue that what's spoken in Canada isn't really French... I remember watching a Quebec TV show in France, and they have to use French subtitles on those shows so that the French can understand what's being said. That being said, here in California, about one in four people speaks Spanish first, so if you have a job which deals with the public (such as a physician), good knowledge of Spanish is really helpful. Where I worked, anyone who wanted to could take an oral exam, and if you could achieve a fairly advanced proficiency, you'd be paid a monthly stipend (since it saved on paying interpreters). That's probably the best way to do it. 

Almost all of my cousins in Brussels would speak with their children in French at home, then send them to Flemish schools, so they'd all be proficient in both of the country's languages. It opens up more job opportunities. "Chris" bragged about me with his friends about how I spoke with the natives in all parts of Switzerland from Luzern to Lugano to Lausanne. I didn't speak Romansch, of course. We're going to Puerto Vallarta in a few days, and I told him he'd be the first person I took to this hotel who didn't speak Spanish as their native language (the last man was a dual US-Mexican citizen, born in Mexico, the one before that a Colombian, and the one prior to that also Colombian). Also helpful if you're kind of into Latinos, too. 

One shouldn't be forced to learn a language if not required for one's job. One should certainly be paid extra if one's linguistic skills saves the company from hiring interpreters. And some jobs, of course, really need a bilingual person. 

https://telelanguage.com/blog/spanish-speakers-united-states-infographic/

"According to a 2015 report by Instituto Cervantes, the United States has the second highest concentration of Spanish speakers in the world, after Mexico. Roughly 53 million people, 41 million native Spanish speakers, and approximately 11.6 million bilingual Spanish Speakers live in the United States.  There are more people speaking Spanish in the U.S. than Spain (47 million speakers) and Colombia (48 million speakers)."

Actually the French that is spoken in Quebec is that of the 17th century, when the colony was founded. The British conquest of Quebec in 1760 terminated the connection with France and subsequent wars between England and France led to the isolation of the Quebecois from their mother country.

In France the French language was refined in the 18th and 19th centuries by the state, which created an institution to "purify" the language of Moliere, France's answer to Shakespeare. 

[+ WilliamM]

4 hours ago, Unicorn said:

I feel a song coming on...

 

I know you are a big fan of the year-end holiday season, especially Christmas. So  I recommend Leslie Odom, jr's amazing Christmas album from last year. And an oldie, Ella Fitzgerald's Swinging Christmas album.

[marylander1940]

On 11/12/2021 at 7:07 PM, Luv2play said:

Actually the French that is spoken in Quebec is that of the 17th century, when the colony was founded. The British conquest of Quebec in 1760 terminated the connection with France and subsequent wars between England and France led to the isolation of the Quebecois from their mother country.

In France the French language was refined in the 18th and 19th centuries by the state, which created an institution to "purify" the language of Moliere, France's answer to Shakespeare. 

Exactly French from Quebec is also closer to modern French than Cajun or Missouri's French. 

[Luv2play]

6 minutes ago, marylander1940 said:

Exactly French from Quebec is also closer to modern French than Cajun or Missouri's French. 

When I spent my winters in Miami, I always enjoyed speaking with the Haitian checkout clerks at Publix who spoke a patois based on French that was very difficult to understand precisely but they understood my academic French and I got the gist of what they were saying. 

[CuriousByNature]

I have found Quebecois french to be quite nasal-sounding and it seems less refined than what I have heard in France.  One of Canada's Prime Ministers, Jean Chretien, used to be laughed at because his Quebecois french was even less refined that that of most Quebecois.  It was still much better than mine.

[Luv2play]

There is a big legal drama playing out in France right now about an Arab gardener convicted years ago of killing his rich socialite female boss in her villa in the south of France. She had allegedly written in her own blood “Omar m’a tuer”  before dying. Only problem was that it should have been written “Omar m’a tuee” ( last e accented).

This grammatical error underlines the social divide in France where the elite speak and write a refined French while the lower classes employ careless grammar and spelling. The error is being claimed as an attempt to frame the gardener by someone who was not of the victim’s class.

Apparently an attempt was made in 1901 to simplify the French language but was nixed by those in the elite and L’Academy Francais who wanted to preserve their social distinction. This drama never played out in far away Quebec. The elite there have always spoken the correct French.

 

[mike carey]

On 11/23/2021 at 12:11 PM, Luv2play said:

Only problem was that it should have been written “Omar m’a tuee”

Shouldn't it have been,  «Omar m'a tué»?

Edited November 24, 2021 by mike carey

[BSR]

1 hour ago, mike carey said:

Shouldn't it have been,  «Omar m'a tué»?

Even with my decades-rusty French, I remember this fascinating quirk of French grammar.  When the direct object of a past-tense verb is feminine (in this case the murder victim was a woman), you add an "e" to the end of the verb.

[mike carey]

6 minutes ago, BSR said:

Even with my decades-rusty French, I remember this fascinating quirk of French grammar.  When the direct object of a past-tense verb is feminine (in this case the murder victim was a woman), you add an "e" to the end of the verb.

My similarly antique French did not include this quirk, or I had forgotten it, but even Google Translate when tweaked with an obviously feminine object confirms this, «Omar m'a tuée» it should be.