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Old 11-05-2013, 03:31 PM
pdw
 
Location: Ontario, Canada
2,663 posts, read 3,061,959 times
Reputation: 1789

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Quote:
Originally Posted by jambo101 View Post
Its bilingual because thats the the nature of the two official languages of Canada,we have to put French signs where there are no French and English signs where there are no English.. If you want to drop the bilingualism i doubt you'd get much flak from the English community anywhere in Canada,In fact if we dropped all the linguistic laws,bills, charters rules and regulations. you'd find out real quick which of the two languages are propped up and which one can survive on its own merits.
I would have to disagree. In Quebec, French could easily survive on its own merits. I don't see any threat to the French language whatsoever, with or without Bill 101. English could survive in Quebec on its own merits, but it won't if it continues to be subject to laws like these.
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Old 11-06-2013, 01:13 AM
 
35,309 posts, read 52,154,689 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by pdw View Post
I would have to disagree. In Quebec, French could easily survive on its own merits. I don't see any threat to the French language whatsoever, with or without Bill 101. English could survive in Quebec on its own merits, but it won't if it continues to be subject to laws like these.
I know that and you know that but Marois and her separatists dont seem know that, more rules and regulations on top of more rules and regulations and more language police are apparently needed to protect the French language in Quebec, because with out all this linguistic regulation Quebec's French language would .... disappear?
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Old 11-06-2013, 07:42 AM
 
671 posts, read 851,524 times
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Montreal is my second home at the moment. As an "American" (for the purpose of this conversation), I was also shocked at the amount of English that I hear in Montreal. There are entire English-speaking neighborhoods and you hear English spoken frequently in the streets and in businesses.

One of the reasons is that there are many immigrants to the city and they are from countries where neither language is spoken but where English is a common second language. I was surprised at the number of Spanish-speakers and Asian language speakers in Montreal.

Also, they may have pegged you for an English-speaker and addressed you in English to make you comfortable.

I was once at the Zurich airport in a store and the clerk sized everyone up in line and spoke to them in either French German and English. For the half-dozen people in front of me, she hit the nail on the head every time. I don't know how she made the determinations on sight alone but she had it down to a science....
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Old 11-06-2013, 03:03 PM
pdw
 
Location: Ontario, Canada
2,663 posts, read 3,061,959 times
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English in Montreal is not a recent phenomenon as you are treating it as, Manhattangirl.
We have a long, well-established history in the city, and Montreal is also an historically English-majority city. Virtually every heritage building you see in the entire city was built by anglos, including in the very oldest districts which are for some bizarre reason associated with "Frenchness". English in Montreal is no more the result of immigration than French is.
I'm shocked that you would find this this shocking.
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Old 11-07-2013, 06:34 PM
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by pdw View Post
English in Montreal is not a recent phenomenon as you are treating it as, Manhattangirl.
We have a long, well-established history in the city, and Montreal is also an historically English-majority city. Virtually every heritage building you see in the entire city was built by anglos, including in the very oldest districts which are for some bizarre reason associated with "Frenchness". English in Montreal is no more the result of immigration than French is.
I'm shocked that you would find this this shocking.
Sources? Can you elaborate on this?

I can see that the ownership and funding probably came mostly from anglo community, but architects/carpenters as well? (Note that I'm not talking about neo-gothic kind of monumental buildings, but more about general montreal-style urban buildings)
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Old 11-08-2013, 06:33 AM
 
Location: Gatineau, Québec
26,808 posts, read 37,843,988 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by pdw View Post
and Montreal is also an historically English-majority city.
This is also incorrect. In 375 years of history, anglos were a majority in Montreal for about 20 years in the mid-1800s. That's about it.
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Old 11-08-2013, 09:29 AM
pdw
 
Location: Ontario, Canada
2,663 posts, read 3,061,959 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Acajack View Post
This is also incorrect. In 375 years of history, anglos were a majority in Montreal for about 20 years in the mid-1800s. That's about it.
You might want to look up the definition of "historically" before you call someone incorrect for using it.
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Old 11-08-2013, 09:48 AM
 
Location: Gatineau, Québec
26,808 posts, read 37,843,988 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by pdw View Post
You might want to look up the definition of "historically" before you call someone incorrect for using it.
Sure, whatever. The way you worded it gives the impression that Montreal "was always anglo and that all this French crap is a recent fabrication".

Thinking how the U.S. has "historically black colleges" - I wonder if a 200-year-old college would be called "historically black" if it had had a mainly black enrolment for five or ten of those years?
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Old 11-08-2013, 12:51 PM
pdw
 
Location: Ontario, Canada
2,663 posts, read 3,061,959 times
Reputation: 1789
The way Manhattangirl worded her post gave me the impression that she thought Montreal's English speaking population is a recent phenomenon, simply the result of anglo transplants from outside of the province. This is the way groups like Mouvement Québec français want the rest of the world to see things, but it's hardly true.
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Old 11-08-2013, 12:54 PM
pdw
 
Location: Ontario, Canada
2,663 posts, read 3,061,959 times
Reputation: 1789
Quote:
Originally Posted by fps7028 View Post
Sources? Can you elaborate on this?

I can see that the ownership and funding probably came mostly from anglo community, but architects/carpenters as well? (Note that I'm not talking about neo-gothic kind of monumental buildings, but more about general montreal-style urban buildings)
The labourers were largely Irish. They were mostly native Irish speakers who spoke English as a second language or native English speakers, versus the predominantly Francophone Irish community of today. The architects were largely English and Scottish.
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