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Old 10-06-2014, 07:12 AM
 
Location: Gatineau, Québec
26,786 posts, read 37,782,011 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by P London View Post
Oh I though china recognized the many languages.

So in every country it seems that there's always a dominate language even if the country is multi lingual.
Not necessarily. In many multi-lingual countries there are language zones where one particular language is allowed to dominate. Many countries that are like this also have decentralized powers and so a lot of responsibilities are handled locally, as opposed to be the federal/national government. This makes the multi-lingualism easier to manage as well.

Switzerland is a good example as the cantons are generally single-language and so Geneva operates in French only. Zurich operates in German only. There are a couple of bilingual cantons but they are again generally divided up into, for example, French-only or German-only zones. The federal government of Switzerland has some high-level powers but hardly as much as a central government would normally have. The Swiss federal government does have bilingual capacity, but by and large it respects the language of the cantons. So for example the Swiss federal government posts road signs in French only in some areas, Italian only in others and German only in others.

Multi-lingual countries where two languages (or more) have pretty much equal status all across the country are extremely rare. Generally, it's more about recognizing that the country has more than one language, and then identifying zones where things will operate in one language, and those where another language will be used.
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Old 10-06-2014, 07:57 AM
 
Location: London, UK
9,970 posts, read 12,342,526 times
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Ok

I know in Wales street signs are in English and Welsh.
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Old 10-06-2014, 08:06 AM
 
Location: Gatineau, Québec
26,786 posts, read 37,782,011 times
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Here are some more details about Canada's governance with respect to language:

Prime Minister: no official legal requirement to be bilingual, but in practice all PMs have to be bilingual, and as I said all of them have been (regardless of origin) since 1968. There is also no principle (either official or unofficial) of an alternance of the prime ministership between English and French speaking Canadians. Over the last 40 or 50 years, people from Quebec have been over-represented (relative to population) in the Canadian prime ministership.

Governor-General: our head of state, representing the Crown (Queen Elizabeth) in Canada; largely symbolic. Not as rigourous a requirement for bilingualism as for the PM, but in practice most of them are. The current one is a bilingual English Canadian. His predecessor was a Québécoise of Haitian origin. There is generally a principle of alternance for this position between someone from French-speaking Canada and someone from English-speaking Canada.

Members of Parliament: there is no bilingualism requirement and so quite a few members speak only English or only French. All proceedings (including committee meetings) have simultaneous interpretation and members can speak the language of their choice. It's not unusual for some members to make part of an intervention in one language, and then switch to the other. In order to make the evening newscasts in both languages.

Cabinet Ministers: no bilingualism requirement but it's a nice to have of course. In practice it's much more common to have a minister who speaks English only that one who speaks only French. Though we have had francophone federal ministers whose English was extremely limited.

Federal public service to the public: supposed to be available in both languages in most parts of the country. Not always the case especially in the more anglo parts of Canada. But if you call a centralized number for assistance or write an email you can most definitely get any federal service in both languages no matter where you are. Bilingual service "breakdowns" mostly occur when you have to deal face to face with someone in a regional office somewhere, in the language that is not the main one of that region. By and large, in Quebec, the Canadian federal government offers its services in French 100% of the time. And outside of Quebec, such services are available in English 100% of the time.

Federal public service (internal operations): supposed to be bilingual in the capital region of Ottawa-Gatineau. Tries to do so but it's somewhat imperfect. French is certainly present but English is still fairly dominant in the capital's operations. Regional operations (not in the capital) of the federal government tend to be in French in Quebec, and English elswhere.

Canada also has military regiments that are English-speaking, and others are French-speaking. It also has warships whose operational language is French.
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Old 10-06-2014, 08:09 AM
 
Location: Taipei
8,854 posts, read 8,374,785 times
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http://drupal.in-cdn.net/cdn/article...n_brussels.jpg
^This is how they function.
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Old 10-06-2014, 08:11 AM
 
Location: Gatineau, Québec
26,786 posts, read 37,782,011 times
Reputation: 11561
Quote:
Originally Posted by P London View Post
Ok

I know in Wales street signs are in English and Welsh.
Yes, but except for some rare exceptions, that does not make them bilingual "operationally".

It's like that in the Republic of Ireland as well.

My wife worked on a contract with the government there, and sure the signs on the buildings were bilingual (even with Irish Gaelic first), as was the letterhead on her project documents. But everything else was in English only.
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Old 10-06-2014, 08:42 AM
 
Location: Gatineau, Québec
26,786 posts, read 37,782,011 times
Reputation: 11561
As a Canadian, I was shocked to learn a few years ago that Belgium had a PM (Elio de Rupo) who spoke very little Flemish, the language spoken by 60% of the population. De Rupo is the son of Italian immigrants and grew up in the French-speaking part of Belgium. Apparently his Flemish has gotten better even though it is not really that fluent either.

Canada's had PMs who were not super bilingual either. Not that long ago, Jean Chrétien's English was heavily accented and laden with mistakes and gallicisms, but still not that difficult to understand for the average English-speaking Canadian.

Our current PM Stephen Harper speaks French quite correctly, but robotically.
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Old 10-06-2014, 04:34 PM
 
2,887 posts, read 5,116,319 times
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Originally Posted by Acajack View Post
Our current PM Stephen Harper speaks French quite correctly, but robotically.
That much is true, although he does sound like a robot in English too.
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