What ought to be Canada official language policy?

[barney]

Yep.

This Wikipedia article I think outlines this fairly well:

International auxiliary language - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Even at the international level, English is a force to be reckoned with.

As I said, Canada's adoption of a UN-sanctioned IAL would do much to create an image of Canada as a progressive state. Imagine Canada being the first country in the world to officially adopt it...talk about a spotlight.

 

[Machjo]

Yep.

This Wikipedia article I think outlines this fairly well:

International auxiliary language - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Even at the international level, English is a force to be reckoned with.

As I said, Canada's adoption of a UN-sanctioned IAL would do much to create an image of Canada as a progressive state. Imagine Canada being the first country in the world to officially adopt it...talk about a spotlight.

There is a problem with this. For a language to be truly international, no one country could take the 'lead' as it were. It could even be construed as arrogant and offensive for Canada to do so. What Canada could do, though, is adopt a temporary and partial solution to the problem until the UN or a similar future body could adopt, create, or revize one that all nations could agree to. As for this temporary partial solution, it would not be very wise to put too much effort into it precicely sinse it would be temporary anyway. In this respect, simply adopting a policy like Englands might be the best bet, whereby interested schools and pupils would be free to choose Esperanto if they wish.

As for a long-term and complete solution, what Canada could do is approach the UN expressing its desire that the international community consult on the adoption, creation of revision of an IAL for the future, with schools being free to teach Esperanto if they wish as a temporary solution for the time being.

Even if the rest of the world should laugh Canada to scorn over this, it would still do much to boost Canada's reputation as a nation willing to stand up for justice, even in the face of failure. After all, it's not whether we win or lose, but how we play the game. That alone could command much respect from other countries.

 

[Machjo]

Yes, I agree , Barney, that Canada should take the lead in proposing action in this direction, but without showing preference for any particular language to play this role. After all, in the end, all nations would need to agree on such a language.

 

[barney]

Yeah sorry I wasn't clear: I meant once the UN agreed to an IAL, Canada could be the first to apply it; basically being the first to actually take the plunge so to speak.

 

[Machjo]

Yeah sorry I wasn't clear: I meant once the UN agreed to an IAL, Canada could be the first to apply it; basically being the first to actually take the plunge so to speak.

That I could agree to.

 

[barney]

Then we're agreed. Who pays the trip to Geneva, you or me? ;-p

 

[Machjo]

Then we're agreed. Who pays the trip to Geneva, you or me? ;-p

You of course:smile:

But on a serious note, why not just make people aware of how few Canadians are really learning their second language well on both sides of the language divide. All we have to do is show the Stats Can.

 

[LordDurham]

The Best and Only Language System for Canada and its Provinces and Territories is this.


National Language(s) of the Dominion of Canada
English, French

Provincial Language(s) of the Province of Newfoundland (Minus Labrador)
English

Provincial Language(s) of the Province of Nova Scotia
English

Provincial Language(s) of the Province of New Brunswick
English, French

Provincial Language(s) of the Province of Prince Edward Island
English

Provincial Language(s) of the Province of Quebec (Plus Labrador)
English, French

Provincial Language(s) of the Province of Ontario
English

Provincial Language(s) of the Province of Manitoba
English

Provincial Language(s) of the Province of Saskatchewan
English

Provincial Language(s) of the Province of Alberta
English

Provincial Language(s) of the Province of British Columbia
English

Territorial Language(s) of the Yukon Territory
English

Territorial Language(s) of the Northwest Territory (Including Nunavut Territory)
English


2 Bilingual (English, French) Speaking Provinces

01. Province of New Brunswick
02. Province of Quebec


8 Unilingual (English) Speaking Provinces

01. Province of Newfoundland
02. Province of Nova Scotia
03. Province of Prince Edward Island
04. Province of Ontario
05. Province of Manitoba
06. Province of Saskatchewan
07. Province of Alberta
08. Province of British Columbia


2 Unilingual (English) Speaking Territories

01. Yukon Territory
02. Northwest Territory

 

[petros]

Until you go from the english world into the french or vice versa you'll never realize how much french or english you really know but never knew you did.

 

[Machjo]

LordDurham, you do realise that Nunavut has four official languages and that about 8% of its population speaks neither English nor French, don't you?
From a democratic standpoint, how would you explain away the inability of that 8% to communicate with their territorial government. In fact, never mind that; how do you explain from a democratic standpoint the inability of those 8% of Nunavummiut to communicate with their federal government at present? Is that an acceptable loss ofdemocratic access to government?

 

[barney]

That's a good point; political participation is definitely a key issue.

 

[Tyr]

All I'm saying is that English-speaking business people will not adapt when English is still dominant. And English will remain dominant until something replaces it.

In other words, English-speakers will ignore the official language and just keep speaking English. French-speakers in Quebec will likewise continue to have no choice but to adapt as they do now in order to do business in English Canada and attract American business.

To keep with your 10 in a room example, the reality is that 9 of them will continue to speak their own language and the 10th will be faced with the choice of speaking the language of the majority or not doing so and being alienated from the others; the auxiliary language will be ignored--unless you're dealing with a particularly communal bunch.

All I'm saying is that English-speaking business people will not adapt when English is still dominant. And English will remain dominant until something replaces it.

Business being what it is, Many business are asking for fluency in two languages if the position requires an interface with external customers.

Being in BC, the most prevalent is Mandarin.

It just makes good "business sense" (not to mention it gives you somewhat of an edge)to be able to comunicate with your customer in their language.

Much of the "nuances" are lost in translation and it can make or break a deal.

For a contractor/consultant it generally equates to about $10/ hr more

 

[Machjo]

That's a good point; political participation is definitely a key issue.

And that's only on the political front. Then on the cultural front too, just as many Egnlish Canadians are cut off from French Canada, and French Canadians from English Canada, so many of Canada's indigenous peoples are likewise cut off from us and us from them. Then we wonder why all the misunderstandings between our different peoples? Language would help to just promote more unity between Canadians even at the grassroots level, and thus help promote more understanding between all these divided peoples that supposedly form one nation.

 

[Machjo]

All I'm saying is that English-speaking business people will not adapt when English is still dominant. And English will remain dominant until something replaces it.

Business being what it is, Many business are asking for fluency in two languages if the position requires an interface with external customers.

Being in BC, the most prevalent is Mandarin.

It just makes good "business sense" (not to mention it gives you somewhat of an edge)to be able to comunicate with your customer in their language.

Much of the "nuances" are lost in translation and it can make or break a deal.

For a contractor/consultant it generally equates to about $10/ hr more

That's another good point. And considering that learning a second language well can also help a learner learn his third language, a universal auxiliary language comprising words from many other languages could also serve as a propaedeutic for the further study of a third language for those who are so inclined. Failure to learn the second language though merely relegates large chunks of the population to monolingualism.

 

[Tyr]

That's another good point. And considering that learning a second language well can also help a learner learn his third language, a universal auxiliary language comprising words from many other languages could also serve as a propaedeutic for the further study of a third language for those who are so inclined. Failure to learn the second language though merely relegates large chunks of the population to monolingualism.

propaedeutic

Jeeezus. I had to go look that up :lol:

note to self... Need to work on the "word power" thing again

 

[Machjo]

propaedeutic

Jeeezus. I had to go look that up :lol:

note to self... Need to work on the "word power" thing again

Sorry. It just involves less typing than 'introductory language'. Here's another interesting site concerning research on the propaedeutic value of Esperanto, though I'm sure the same would apply to any rationally planned language:

http://www.springboard2languages.org/documents/springboard_rationale.pdf

 

[iznogoud]

The biggest problem here is that English Canadians want the Province of Québec to be billingual and the rest of Canada unilingual. Anyway, we will never resolve this argument. It's been going on for years and it will still go on. It's like the Israel/Palestine conflict or the Catholic/Protestant conflict in Ireland... both without the violence though.

 

[Machjo]

The biggest problem here is that English Canadians want the Province of Québec to be billingual and the rest of Canada unilingual.

That when about 8% of Nunavummiut can speak neither English nor French. They'll have to get them bilingual in English first before they could even dream of making them monolingual in English!

You are correct. The favourite second language of many (though not all) native Enlish speakers is 'loud-and-slow'; they just expect the rest of the world to learn their language 'cause they're just too bloody lazy to try to meet the rest of the world half-way. besides, why should native English-speakers waste their time and money learning other languages when theycan get the rest of the world to waste its time and money learning English instead? Few of them look at it from the standpoint of justice, but rather from that of profit. We're not humans anymore, just producers and consumers. Even English itself has become but a commodity devoid of any culture. As the British Council published in 1983, refers to British English as a 'brand', and says that while Britain has no commodity, that its brand is popular around the world, and that 'English is our greatest asset, greater than North Sea Oil'. Again, not a culture, just a commodity on the market, equated with crude oil!