Anglo Montrealers/Quebeckers behind Epic Meal Time show up on Francophone show, talk entirely in English and need questions to be translated through earpiece. Quebec francophoneTwittersphere shits themselves silly.
For the record, I hate Quebec separatists, French language police and their ilk who think the “distinct society” should be protected. They should be exiled from Canada where they can stop leeching off the rest of us in the form of transfer payments etc.
I’m really ambivalent about this. I’m an anglo Montrealer who pretty much grew up in one of those English ghettos in the city. You could very easily get around my neighbourhood without speaking a word of French. And I know that there are similar areas in Quebec where you will not be understood at all if you aren’t speaking French. Is it shameful and something to rail about? No. Not everyone wants to be, or can master being, bilingual. I like being able to communicate (and work!) in both languages, but that’s me. Live and let live and all that.
I would be shocked to discover that these guys didn’t understand the questions in French, though. Even the most anglo friends I have, who don’t speak a word of French, understand competently. I think there must have been some level of anxiety going on to drive ear-pieces to translate the questions.
My wife did make an excellent point to me when I brought this up to her. They may have experienced what my wife did: French teachers from France, or Morocco, who taught with non-Quebecois accents, and therefore these guys doubted their ability to get the hosts’ accents and slang. That just speaks to the flaws with our language instruction.
In any case, this is overblown and will fade from memory quickly. All the recent polls have shown that bilingualism in the English Montreal community is on the rise. We’re never going back to the days of fabled yore, where Francophones in Montreal were told to “Speak white!”.
Yeah, it’s really a non-issue.
I would be shocked to discover that these guys didn’t understand the questions in French, though. Even the most anglo friends I have, who don’t speak a word of French, understand competently. I think there must have been some level of anxiety going on to drive ear-pieces to translate the questions.
My wife did make an excellent point to me when I brought this up to her. They may have experienced what my wife did: French teachers from France, or Morocco, who taught with non-Quebecois accents, and therefore these guys doubted their ability to get the hosts’ accents and slang. That just speaks to the flaws with our language instruction.
I say it speaks to the state of the French language in Quebec. I was in French immersion and taught proper French from kindergarten all the way through high school. I haven’t used it much since but I can watch a French (meaning from France) movie and understand everything perfectly fine. When I’m in a room of people from Quebec I can barely comprehend them. It’s not really French, not in the way it’s spoken in the rest of the world anyway.
In any case, this is overblown and will fade from memory quickly. All the recent polls have shown that bilingualism in the English Montreal community is on the rise. We’re never going back to the days of fabled yore, where Francophones in Montreal were told to “Speak white!”.
No it’s just going to the wonderful days where Anglophones are being told to speak “Quebecois.”
I’m with Rei on the separatists and language police, they clearly don’t want to live in a free society.