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.
In a cafe in this western Canadian town, a customer orders a soda. Though both customer and waitress are Chinese, they converse easily and comfortably in English.
The waitress speaks both Mandarin and Cantonese, so she would have no difficulty understanding the order in either of China's main languages.
So why speak in English? "That's what we speak here," she said.
The interaction is not an anomaly in this town, where nearly half the 188,000 residents are of Chinese origin, nor in Vancouver, the nearest city, where some 381,500 people—one in five residents—are originally from China.
It is an example of the way the majority of Chinese Immigrants to Canada have assimilated quickly and easily into the country's population
The Chinese who emigrate to Canada are mostly old Hong Kong expatriates who fled the island when China took over in 1997. Hong Kong used to be part of the British Commonwealth, and states in the Commonwealth have pretty relaxed immigration policies towards each other, in general. Thus, faced with the prospect of their businesses or property being reclaimed by the state, they fled to another Commonwealth country.
Basically, you could say that Canada and Hong Kong have a common colonial background (Canada since the 1500s, and Hong Kong since 1840), and English values were instilled in both, so you could say that assimilation into the Canadian value system is like slipping into an old shoe. It doesn't imply that immigrants feel the need and thus should feel the need to abandon their old values and beliefs and wholly integrate into the home country's system. Nor can it be used as some sort of ammo for an agenda for advocating other immigrant groups ... like Hispanics ... should do the same.
It doesn't imply that immigrants feel the need and thus should feel the need to abandon their old values and beliefs and wholly integrate into the home country's system. Nor can it be used as some sort of ammo for an agenda for advocating other immigrant groups ... like Hispanics ... should do the same.
The article did not imply that. BTW- English and French are the official language of Canada.
The article did not imply that. BTW- English and French are the official language of Canada.
French is the so-called official language insisted by many in Quebec as a form of rebellion against the rest of Canada. It is almost unrecognizable as French to an outside listener, sounding almost offensive to natives of France.
French is the so-called official language insisted by many in Quebec as a form of rebellion against the rest of Canada. It is almost unrecognizable as French to an outside listener, sounding almost offensive to natives of France.
We have seen the same with the vietnamese becoming very successful in just a generation. I have seen first generation vietnamese whose parents did not speak english at the top of their hgih school classes in very good schools. its just shows that taking the opportunites available still is the real key to success.Ambition and drive means alot still.
French is the so-called official language insisted by many in Quebec as a form of rebellion against the rest of Canada. It is almost unrecognizable as French to an outside listener, sounding almost offensive to natives of France.
Not to mention the ridiculous double standard - forcing the rest of Canada to learn "quebec" french, while quebec tries its hardest to ban or limit english.
If anything cantonese mandarin will be second language in canada, followed by hindi punjabi
Not to mention the ridiculous double standard - forcing the rest of Canada to learn "quebec" french, while quebec tries its hardest to ban or limit english.
If anything cantonese mandarin will be second language in canada, followed by hindi punjabi
I honestly thought you were smarter than that.
Quebec does way more for English (colleges, hospitals, universities, services, etc.) than any other province except for tiny New Brunswick does for French. It is plainly disingeneous to even insinuate that this is not the case.
As for Canada's second language, well with roughly 7 million French speakers concentrated in one province, you can dream all you want about Cantonese, Mandarin, Hindi or Punjabi outpacing French, but this is not likely to happen ever. None of the languages you mentioned have more than a million speakers, plus all of them lose many of their speakers with each passing generation.
Whereas French in Canada is transmitted intergenerationally by almost all francophone parents, plus French even gains some speakers within Quebec through immigration.
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.
