In Alberta, you rarely hear French, unless you run into tourists or are in one of the few communities where a group of French immigrants ended up. You are as likely to hear German or Ukranian in rural Alberta. English is dominant by such a large factor that any pretension of Alberta being blingual is just that: pretension.
Which language is most used socially?
- Thread starter Phoenix233
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Hi, I'm a British student writing an essay on bilingualism. The Canadian Census has provided me with lots of useful data about which language is used most commonly in the home and at work. What I'm really curious to find out and what books and the internet doesn't seem to be telling me is which language is most commonly used in social groups.
For example; do Quebecoise use one language with their family and another with their friends? Is English/French the most common language in bars and clubs, or is the language used at home the automatic choice for when you're hanging with the guys?
It would be amazingly helpful to me if you could tell me what age bracket you belong to when you post a reply.
(I would ask my family this question but they live in Alberta which aint helping me much lol!)
Thanks in advance for any help you can give me
Steph x
I'm fluently bilingual and have lived in various parts of English-speaking and French-speaking Canada, and I can say that there is no one norm for the whole of Canada.
In some local communities, everyone uses French and very few would even be capable of holding a conversation in English. In other local communities, almost everyone knows English and cannot even function in French. There are bilingual communities in Canada, but they are far and few between in key geographical locations, such as Montreal or Gatineau, and even there you'll find people who don't know both official languages.
According to StatsCan, about 15% of the population of Nunavut knows neither Official Language well.
Canada is a geographically large country, so demographics vary considerably from place to place.
Also, in some parts of Canada, such as Victoria BC, you'll find local Francophone associations organized along the same lines as local Chinese, Ukrainian, and other associations, serving the local minority francophone community. I'm sure you'll likely find similarly-organized Anglophone communities in places like Quebec City.
I'd even met a native English-speaking Canadian who was slowly losing her English owing to her new local environment in Baie-St-Paul, after having married a French-speaker who couldn't speak English well himself.
And of course you'll meet native French-speakers who lose their French over time for similar reasons.
Were Canadians,we also speak Inuktitut ya keekeekablunak!
Translation-crazy white person
or keekeekablunakumilik
crazy bearded white person
Translation-crazy white person
or keekeekablunakumilik
crazy bearded white person
(Thats what they called me)
Same thing out here on the Prairies, though many more Francophone
people have moved to Saskatchewan (from Africa) in the last few years.
I guess its because Saskatchewan always seems so Francaphone friendly.
Either that or they're coming for the weather. We're not that much different
than Africa...or at least parts of it....at some times during the year. :lol:
Here on Aether Island we speak Politely - a language totally unknown in many parts of North America.