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Ethnic fractionalization and cultural diversity scores, by region and ethnic fractionalization. Rank of Cultural Ethnic Frac. Cultural Frac. Frac. Within Region Western Europe and Japan
1 Canada 0.596 0.499 1
2 Switzerland 0.575 0.418 3
3 Belgium 0.567 0.462 2
4 Spain 0.502 0.263 6
5 USA 0.491 0.271 5
6 New Zealand 0.363 0.363 4
7 UK 0.324 0.184 9
8 France 0.272 0.251 7
9 Sweden 0.189 0.189 8
10 Ireland 0.171 0.157 10
11 Australia 0.149 0.147 11
This
It's pretty bull**** that Japan is somehow groups with Western Europe. What do they have in common culturally, linguistically, or ethnically?
Some of the results seem odd to me. Take Sweden and Australia. Immigrants and their offspring make up a much, much less significant proportion of the Swedish population, and non immigrants Swedes are a far, far more homogeneous group than their Australian counterparts in terms of ancestry and ethnic ancestry. Yet Sweden is more "fractionalized and diverse".
It's hard to say as I haven't studied their methodology but I'd guess somewhere in between the U.S. and Australia's scores.
In terms of having large areas with a second language having a significant impact, Australia and Canada (taking out the French element) don't really have anything like the U.S. has with Spanish.
Even though the overall impact of Spanish in the U.S. is quite a bit less than French in Canada (adding it back in now).
I mean, for the purposes of this discussion, really there is 20-25% of Canada that can't even be considered as part of the "Anglosphere" in anything more than an accessory way.
I'm not sure what you might mean here. Spanish may not have official status but it is truly everywhere. You can't even get certain jobs if you're not bilingual English/Spanish. The US has the second highest number of Spanish speakers in the world after Mexico.
I'm not sure what you might mean here. Spanish may not have official status but it is truly everywhere. You can't even get certain jobs if you're not bilingual English/Spanish. The US has the second highest number of Spanish speakers in the world after Mexico.
I am not sure you fully grasp just how comprehensively French-speaking a fairly large part of Canada truly is. Or how entrenched the two languages have become in officialdom for anything that is "cross-country".
Just an example there is a cross-Canada network of public schools that teaches all day in French that exists from the Atlantic and the Pacific. (In addition to the school system in Quebec where 90% or more of students go to school in French all day.) In anglophone cities like Vancouver, Toronto and Halifax you have a portion of kids who go to public school in French all day just as kids go to school in Swedish in Sweden or in Spanish in Mexico.
Even in Miami and El Paso there aren't any public schools that teach the three R's in Spanish all day.
In Quebec the employment sector is predominantly French only and English isn't even required for most jobs.
The Canadian federal public sector which has employees from coast to coast has designated between 30-40% of its jobs as English-French bilingual. And you have to be bilingual to hold any top positions. Imagine the head of the FBI, the DEA, the department of defence, and all Supreme Court judges having to be bilingual. That's Canada.
It's strong but unwritten rule that the Prime Minister of Canada has to be bilingual. You can't even be a serious contender for the leadership of any major political party in Canada if you don't speak French.
In many parts of Quebec you can drive for several hours without picking up any English-language radio stations.
In Quebec, they plan, design and build skyscrapers, highways, massive hydroelectric dams, personal watercraft, Can-Am Spyder motorcycles, subway cars, etc. all in French, usually without English being used at all.
Also, how many non-Hispanics live their lives entirely in Spanish in the U.S.?
In Quebec you even have 70-80% of the minority *anglos* who can speak French. And you have about 10% of these anglos, people with names like John Smith, who live their lives entirely in French.
You have hundreds of thousands of people of all origins from all over the world who have adopted French (as opposed to English) as the language of their new life in Canada. They work in French, send their kids to school in French, listen to the news in French, file their taxes in French, get medical treatment in French, get help from 911 in French, sing nursery rhymes to babies in French, write to their elected representatives in French, etc.
Still with the "Canada has French, and the U.S. has Spanish" myth, consider this...
Some years ago, a small Texas town called El Cenizo made headlines across the U.S. when it declared that Spanish would be its operating language.
Now, why would this be such a big deal if all these places that are always mentioned like Miami, El Paso, etc. are already conducting their day-to-day operations in Spanish?
The answer? Because they aren't.
Back here in Canada, consider there are 1100 municipalities in the province of Quebec. Of these, well over 1000 operate in French only. (About 85 Quebec municipalities have bilingual status and operate in French and English.)
In New Brunswick, about 50 municipalities operate in French, and between 10-20 in Ontario also operate in French. (A number of municipalities in these two provinces also operate bilingually in English and French.)
I am not sure you fully grasp just how comprehensively French-speaking a fairly large part of Canada truly is. Or how entrenched the two languages have become in officialdom for anything that is "cross-country".
Just an example there is a cross-Canada network of public schools that teaches all day in French that exists from the Atlantic and the Pacific. (In addition to the school system in Quebec where 90% or more of students go to school in French all day.) In anglophone cities like Vancouver, Toronto and Halifax you have a portion of kids who go to public school in French all day just as kids go to school in Swedish in Sweden or in Spanish in Mexico.
Even in Miami and El Paso there aren't any public schools that teach the three R's in Spanish all day.
In Quebec the employment sector is predominantly French only and English isn't even required for most jobs.
The Canadian federal public sector which has employees from coast to coast has designated between 30-40% of its jobs as English-French bilingual. And you have to be bilingual to hold any top positions. Imagine the head of the FBI, the DEA, the department of defence, and all Supreme Court judges having to be bilingual. That's Canada.
It's strong but unwritten rule that the Prime Minister of Canada has to be bilingual. You can't even be a serious contender for the leadership of any major political party in Canada if you don't speak French.
In many parts of Quebec you can drive for several hours without picking up any English-language radio stations.
In Quebec, they plan, design and build skyscrapers, highways, massive hydroelectric dams, personal watercraft, Can-Am Spyder motorcycles, subway cars, etc. all in French, usually without English being used at all.
You're right, that's definitely much more entrenched. Thing is in Canada, languages have official status, in the US they don't, at least at the federal level. Many states do however and this brings us back to diversity. In California for example, English is the official language of government. Average people taking state exams, for driver licenses for example are only required to know basic English like there would be on street signs. You can get materials in at least a dozen different languages including; Spanish, Tagolog, Chinese (Cantonese, Mandarin) Hmong, Vietnamese, Laotian, Cambodian, Japanese, Korean, Arabic, Farsi, Russian, Ukranian, Armenian, Punjab, Hindi, and maybe a couple more I'm forgetting. All of these language groups have communities at least in CA large enough to provide language forms. Some like the Persians and Armenians represent the largest of their groups outside their home countries.
I don't think that having two official languages is evidence of diversity.
In fact, the demographics of Quebec are far more homogeneous than the rest of Canada and outside of the city of Montreal, Quebec is not very diverse at all.
Also, how many non-Hispanics live their lives entirely in Spanish in the U.S.?
In Quebec you even have 70-80% of the minority *anglos* who can speak French. And you have about 10% of these anglos, people with names like John Smith, who live their lives entirely in French.
You have hundreds of thousands of people of all origins from all over the world who have adopted French (as opposed to English) as the language of their new life in Canada. They work in French, send their kids to school in French, listen to the news in French, file their taxes in French, get medical treatment in French, get help from 911 in French, sing nursery rhymes to babies in French, write to their elected representatives in French, etc.
It's actually more possible then you might be aware of to get by on Spanish only and many people, especially in Western states do exactly that.
Yes, there is news and TV in Spanish. Univision, a Spanish language network is headquartered in Los Angeles. There are Spanish language newspapers. There are radio stations that are entirely in Spanish both spoken and music. You can get Spanish speaking people in hospitals, CA tax forms are available in Spanish and interpreters can assist with federal forms (they may be available in Spanish, not sure). Yes we have 911 operators available in Spanish. Most 911 dispatchers maintain a certain number of Spanish speakers. In fact, most teleprompters you call now tell you "for English press one. Para Español, empuje numero dos". Takes you directly to a Spanish speaking operator. Yes, mothers sing nursery rhymes to their children in Spanish too LOL.
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