Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Have any idea about the historical trends? Did that percentage get lower over time?
Based on Statcan numbers (source), for the Montreal CMA i.e. including suburbs outside the island:
2011:
French only 37.0%
Neither French nor English 1.7%
Total who can't speak English 38.7%
English only 7.4%
French + English 53.9%
Total who can speak English 61.3%
2001:
French only 38.0%
Neither French nor English 1.5%
Total who can't speak English 39.5%
English only 7.5%
French + English 53.0%
Total who can speak English 60.5%
I knew one friend while growing up who couldn't speak a word of French. I don't understand it.
We went to the same English high school, yet she was the only high school pal who couldn't speak a word of French to save her life.
Some people have hang ups about speaking another language,they think their attempts are so flawed it makes them appear stupid so they just never try and thus never become bilingual.
When i first moved from the USA to Quebec my initial attempts at speaking French had em rolling on the floor laughing,didnt matter i didnt take it personally and as time went on i made fewer mistakes and ultimately became functionally bilingual, the key is trying ,making the mistakes and getting corrected,learning.
I know this is not be the topic of the thread, but i'd like somebody can clarify some related concepts.
French Canadian: A Canadian national with ancestral origins on the ethnic French people (in the same way of Scottish Canadian, Italian Canadian, Korean Canadian, etc) irrespective of mother tongue or place of living (Either being an English linguistical zone or a French one). Also notice not all people currently living in France nor French citizens are ethnic French.
Now, I got some doubt on this:
Francophone Canadian:
-A Canadian who speaks French as a mother tongue?
-Or a Canadian who may speak French or any other language as MT, but lives and interacts in a French linguistical zone, therefore they already "assimilated" in a francophone Canadian culture, and now they can be considered as so?
If this is true, a French speaker that lives in Vancouver or Edmonton may not longer be considered Francophone since they have to assimilate along with all other allophone minorities, into an English speaking land (just like immigrants from India, Hong Kong, Colombia).
Quebec's Anglophone minority (people who assimilate in English, instead of French, in Quebec) is made up of several allophone-MT immigrants and native born Canadians. 13.5% is beyond the 8.5% of the province that speaks English as mother tongue in 2011. Unlike Edmonton, in Montreal you can assimilate as either Francophone or Anglophone, then, being Franco or Anglo isn't much of mother tongue but of linguistic attachment.
No matter where you are in Canada you can be whatever your heritage/culture dictates, if francophone or anglophone the only assimilation required is learning French or English not what i'd call assimilation which IMO requires one to completely abandon one culture for another.
I know this is not be the topic of the thread, but i'd like somebody can clarify some related concepts.
French Canadian: A Canadian national with ancestral origins on the ethnic French people (in the same way of Scottish Canadian, Italian Canadian, Korean Canadian, etc) irrespective of mother tongue or place of living (Either being an English linguistical zone or a French one). Also notice not all people currently living in France nor French citizens are ethnic French.
Now, I got some doubt on this:
Francophone Canadian:
-A Canadian who speaks French as a mother tongue?
-Or a Canadian who may speak French or any other language as MT, but lives and interacts in a French linguistical zone, therefore they already "assimilated" in a francophone Canadian culture, and now they can be considered as so?
If this is true, a French speaker that lives in Vancouver or Edmonton may not longer be considered Francophone since they have to assimilate along with all other allophone minorities, into an English speaking land (just like immigrants from India, Hong Kong, Colombia).
Quebec's Anglophone minority (people who assimilate in English, instead of French, in Quebec) is made up of several allophone-MT immigrants and native born Canadians. 13.5% is beyond the 8.5% of the province that speaks English as mother tongue in 2011. Unlike Edmonton, in Montreal you can assimilate as either Francophone or Anglophone, then, being Franco or Anglo isn't much of mother tongue but of linguistic attachment.
"French Canadians" are people who are assumed to be descendants of the old stock settlers who came from France. They have names like Tremblay, Gagnon, Pelletier, Morin, Moreau, Dupont, Dubois, Simard, Bouchard, etc. Generally, people who assimilated into this group long ago are also thought of as French Canadians by almost everyone. So you have people who are also considered French Canadian who have names like Anctil, Ryan, Ross, Harvey, Reid, Smith, Scott, etc. And also who have French-
sounding names that are not necessarily of French origin: Rodrigue (Rodrigues), Sylvain (Sullivan), Riel (Rielly), Meilleur (Meyer), etc.
Technically speaking, people who are are of French Canadian (old French settler stock) origin but who do not speak French anymore (and are English only speakers) are also "French Canadian". But because of the language politics in Canada, almost no one would consider them to be French Canadians. Including they themselves most of the time. Most of these people (anglophone Canadians or French origin) consider themselves to be "Canadian" (full stop) or "English Canadian" even.
"Francophones" is also complicated to define. But broadly speaking this would include everyone who uses French as the language of their everyday lives (family life, kids' schooling, culture to some degree, etc.) Most of the people in Canada who correspond to this definition are French Canadians but there is a growing percentage of the population that is francophone but NOT French Canadian. In Montreal for example it is estimated that about 15% of native French speakers have no French bloodlines whatsoever.
People who simply know French but don't necessarily use it to live their lives in are generally not considered francophones.
Those who have a mother tongue other than English or French are referred to as "allophones". Allophones may use French or English for their lives outside the home depending on where they live.
In Quebec, most people speak French so it's not that special for an anglophone or an allophone to speak French here. And so francophone, anglophone or allophone is generally a question of self-identification. Two people with the same profile and language usage may identify according to different labels.
I can't believe 40% of people in the Montreal metropolitan area don't speak a word of English. Why is Montreal called a bilingual city then? Anyone have any sources to back up this claim?
You'll notice that nobody official refers to Montreal as a bilingual city, and most of its residents (eg most francophones) generally don't either.
The claim that Montreal is a bilingual city is most often made by members of the anglophone community there and also by Canadians from the other provinces.
In any event, regardless of official status, branding and even the imperfection of its bilingualism, it's still way more bilingual in practice than any other large city in the country.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
