Should we research more efficient language policies?

[Machjo]

According to Scott Reid, the Federal Government alonw had already spent 37 billion dollars on Official Bilingualism by 1993 already! And this does not take into account provincial, territorial, and private sector spending on Official Bilingualism!

Do you think it's time to research a more efficient language policy?

 

[Machjo]

http://www

 

[Machjo]

Machjo,

The amount of money already spent is ludicrous. To spend more would be asinine.

A language that is evolving on a daily basis and is now including words from other languages would be impossible to keep track of.

Your question is extremely interesting and if, hypothetically the language was standardized who, in my opinion would really understand or benefit from it?

sincere regards scratch

Who said anything about standardization necessarily?

Of course language standardization (sometimes referred to as corpus planning) can form part of language policy, but not necessarily. Language policy in its broadest sense just means how language is regulated. For example if we adopted English as the sole official language outside Quebec and French in Quebec, with both sides being monolingual, that woudl be a language policy in spite of minimal definition of the body of each language. And such a policy would probably save money too.

And of course other policies might be even more efficient.

 

[tracy]

Let the strongest, most used language prevail. Where people need services, have a translation phone available and problem solved.

Course, I currently live in California where this is the case and I will probably have to learn spanish in a couple of years...

 

[Machjo]

Divisive for whom?

The Bloc wants the federal government in Quebec to function officially in French only. And many English-speaking conservatives outside fo Quebec want an end to official bilingualism, at least as far as it requires many civil servants to know French for exclusively symbolic reasons, too.

So the Bloc would be happy with this, and so would many Conservatives.

The NDP just wants to see Canada stay together, so if this is so contentious an issue for many Quebecers, the NDP would likely grudgingly go for this.

The Liberal party would thus be about the only party left to support spending on symbolic bilingualism, which would likely thus hurt it in Quebec, and that too would likely pressure it to abandon such a policy.

And if they all abandon it, then the Greens likely would too.

In this respect, the Bloc could make this happen.

 

[Machjo]

Let the strongest, most used language prevail. Where people need services, have a translation phone available and problem solved.

Course, I currently live in California where this is the case and I will probably have to learn spanish in a couple of years...

Good idea.

 

[tracy]

I'm going to look for a class in the New Year. It's my resolution. At this point my Spanish is really pathetic. I can say things like "breast?" "bottle?" "diaper" "cute baby" "fat baby" and "my hairless dog". It's not enough to get by in my work without an interpreter, but those interpreter phones are great. You call and have instant access to interpreters for MANY languages. I've used them for Bangledeshis, Cambodians, Armenians, etc. It's awesome.

Technology should make the need for a federal language policy obsolete. Have everyone in the BC office speak English, but a French speaking person should be able to come in and have access to services in French over the phone or the internet. Same goes for English speakers in Quebec.

 

[mit]

I remember going to a McDonalds in Ottawa and the Asian employee served the French speaking customer in front of me in perfect French (Atleast to my anglo ears) At my turn at the register I was served in perfect English - I was not appalled I was jealous - Learning other languages AND being able to use them has many benefits that go far beyond government services. We should add more!

 

[taxslave]

According to Scott Reid, the Federal Government alonw had already spent 37 billion dollars on Official Bilingualism by 1993 already! And this does not take into account provincial, territorial, and private sector spending on Official Bilingualism!

Do you think it's time to research a more efficient language policy?

Quite simple. Since English is the language of business the world over that is what we use. Bi lingualism and multi culturalism are both expensive jokes used to buy votes in Quebec and from immigrants. No more ESL on the taxpayers dollar either. Prospective immigrants must pass an english proficiency test to even be considered.

 

[mit]

Quite simple. Since English is the language of business the world over that is what we use. Bi lingualism and multi culturalism are both expensive jokes used to buy votes in Quebec and from immigrants. No more ESL on the taxpayers dollar either. Prospective immigrants must pass an english proficiency test to even be considered.

Taxslave - I can agree on the funding issues - Why an illegal immigrant gets housing , english or french language training, help in finding a job and living expenses at levels that exceed what a senior gets from OAS and CPP is beyond me.
A legal immigrant has to jump through hoops to get in to this country only to have their accredation thrown in the trash and are forced in to low paying jobs while an immigrant that dumps their passports in the trash on the plane gets to stay in Canada on the taxpayer's nickel. AND if you try and deport these illegals they hide behind appeals and government paid lawyers or go underground.
There is a cost savings that Harper can look at - He can get tough on crime - ease the unemployment situation - reduce the size of government and look good in the eyes of citizens. Heck - he can ship them back to their home countries on Air Canada and give the airline some extra revenue

 

[mit]

There are so many here now there would be no tax saving only an expenditure and lawyer fees to foot if the plan were to work.

imo/jao

r;s

That may be true but we could stem the tide by tackling the new ones first - Letting it be known to the world that Canada is not a dumping grown for those who skirt immigration laws - If you think about it - we do not have Doctors and Nurses and professional people and skilled trade workers coming here as illegal immigrants - they try to get here through legal means - Many of those who claim persecution may have got their ticket to freedom by nefarious means - and may not be good additions to our society. Windsor had to deal with busloads of immigrants that were shipped there from an Immigration specialist company from Florida where the immigrants paid a fee and were trained in how to be an illegal immigrant in Canada. Because the city bears the housing costs either taxes go up or services are cut.

 

[tracy]

tracy,
Canada is officially a bilingual country, some people do not like it , but it is still the law.
Some provinces have bucked the system and others are innodated with those who's mother tongue is french.
How would you solve this if you still lived in Canada?

In my opinion.

Just an observation

r;s

Translator phones, forms in both languages. Canadians should have rights to services in English or French, but there is no reason they have to be serviced by a person in that office who can speak both languages fluently.

 

[tracy]

It's how we get along in California. It doesn't really matter that the only government language is English, when our patients speak Spanish only we have to communicate with them in Spanish. I think people need to get ideology out of it. It doesn't matter if they "should" speak English. They don't, and we need to communicate with them. The only reasonable solution is interpreters.

 

[JLM]

I don't care what language you talk, but if you talk to me you talk English. But if I want to hang a sign outside my house in Ethiopian that should be my perfect right.