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There were two episodes that day and I can't recall which one:
Quebec; in a suburb of Montreal.
Ontario; a neighborhood just on the southeast outskirts of Toronto.
Either way, English and French are official languages of Canada. Eastern Canada is where most of the French speaking Canadians are found and yet, no signs in both languages.
Doing a little reading online, Toronto has the largest non Canadian born population; if anything, Toronto sounds like a place which should have bilingual signs. I also discovered that the box store is only located in Ontario, so I have to guess it was the Toronto episode.
From a report on Toronto:
Given the percentage of foreign-born population and non native speakers, shouldn't the box store in Toronto cater to immigrants as the CVS in Westbury does?
Southeast outskirts of Toronto would technically put it in Lake Ontario , the areas that use to be to the SE of the city limits are now part of the city (which is likely what you are referring to). Anyway I don't think you can compare one box store you see on TV with the area as a whole. I have been in Toronto (granted its been a few years) and remember seeing numerous signs (and not just English or French).
Interesting tidbit btw
Quote:
We challenge you to name a language that isn't spoken in the GTA! City Hall notices are printed in Chinese, English, French, Greek, Italian, Polish, Portuguese, Spanish, Tagalog and Tamil. Unlike the rest of Canada, most of Toronto's bilingual signs are written in English and Chinese, not French. Most of the French signs are near the US border, as if Ontario wants to hit arriving Americans with the message, 'We are Canadian! We are bilingual!'
Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.
Why learn? Eventually everyone will have to speak Spanish. Don't understand Spanish? Then you'll be SOL.
I don't think its fair to say most people who speak Spanish do not want to learn English The adult ESL classes are generally always filled and have waiting lists.
There were two episodes that day and I can't recall which one:
Quebec; in a suburb of Montreal.
Ontario; a neighborhood just on the southeast outskirts of Toronto.
Either way, English and French are official languages of Canada. Eastern Canada is where most of the French speaking Canadians are found and yet, no signs in both languages.
Doing a little reading online, Toronto has the largest non Canadian born population; if anything, Toronto sounds like a place which should have bilingual signs. I also discovered that the box store is only located in Ontario, so I have to guess it was the Toronto episode.
From a report on Toronto:
Given the percentage of foreign-born population and non native speakers, shouldn't the box store in Toronto cater to immigrants as the CVS in Westbury does?
There are few bilingual store signs (English + French) in Toronto because the French-speaking population there is very small. (Even though French is an official language of Canada - but French speakers tend to live in other parts of the country).
As for signs in other non-official (immigrant) languages, other than ethnic shops you won't see that many in Toronto. Few of the larger chains post signs other than in English in Toronto, other than maybe a few exceptions (Chinese in Agincourt or Markham, for example). But even so, most larger national chains in these areas tend to use English only.
One reason is that there maybe isn't one single large non-English group in Toronto like there is in many parts of the States with Spanish. Instead, there are many different language groups, so it would be difficult to pick a single second language for signs. Just an idea...
I spent a rainy Sunday watching HGTV. One of the numerous shows was filmed in Canada. This episode had a trip to a big box home improvement store. All of the signs were in English only; none in Francais (despite being a bilingual province) or Espanol. A Canadian flag was suspended from the rafters.
A trip into the same big box home improvement store on LI and signs are bilingual with no American flag displayed.
Idk , there is a law requiring Bi-lingual signs in Provinces bordering Quebec but not all of Canada. Some New England states also do it along the border.
The past month or so the CVS's in the Westbury/Hicksville area have changed their in store advertizing (those annoucements you hear over the loudspeaker) to spanish!
I will definately be calling CVS Corporate to tell them what I think.
Has anyone else experienced such announcements? Its not exactly fair when many of the people shopping cant understand what they are announcing!
It would be an issue worth considering if the announcements are "ONLY" made in Spanish. Do you even know if thats the case ?
Other than planes flying over your head, have you paid attention to the multi-lingual announcements and signs at the airports ? Oh boy, you have a fight on your hands now !
Now, when you do call CVS corporate you may hear "para espanol, oprime el dos." Just breathe easy okay ? ... I'm just saying.... I'm just saying....
Idk , there is a law requiring Bi-lingual signs in Provinces bordering Quebec but not all of Canada. Some New England states also do it along the border.
It's not quite that. Only three or four small municipalities (cities or towns) in Canada have local bylaws requiring bilingual store signs. Most are in eastern Ontario (eg Clarence-Rockland), near the border with Quebec it is true.
But if you go to most places on the border with Quebec (Ottawa, Pembroke or Cornwall in Ontario for example), most store signs are in English only. Some other places have a lot of bilingual signs (Hawkesbury, Ontario or Edmundston, New Brunswick), but this is because the population in those towns is mostly French-speaking (85%-95%).
Road signs (posted by the government) tend to be bilingual in New Brunswick and in some parts of Ontario near Quebec as well.
And yes, I have seen the odd road sign or store sign with French on it in parts of the northeastern U.S. as well.
One reason is that there maybe isn't one single large non-English group in Toronto like there is in many parts of the States with Spanish. Instead, there are many different language groups, so it would be difficult to pick a single second language for signs. Just an idea...
Right, and that's the whole issue. There's a point when you stop being a "melting pot" and instead become a country with 2 languages, which is where we are heading with current immigration rates from Spanish speaking countries.
It's not a question of right or wrong, it's about one culture vs another.
I don't think that someone who doesn't think this shift should be allowed to happen is any worse than someone who thinks that a country they are immigrating to should adapt to their culture as, opposed to vice versa.
It's unprecedented in US history what is going on with Latinos now....and the reason it's happening is because there are so many more of them immigrating here than from places where they don't speak Spanish.
Right, and that's the whole issue. There's a point when you stop being a "melting pot" and instead become a country with 2 languages, which is where we are heading with current immigration rates from Spanish speaking countries.
It's not a question of right or wrong, it's about one culture vs another.
I don't think that someone who doesn't think this shift should be allowed to happen is any worse than someone who thinks that a country they are immigrating to should adapt to their culture as, opposed to vice versa.
It's unprecedented in US history what is going on with Latinos now....and the reason it's happening is because there are so many more of them immigrating here than from places where they don't speak Spanish.
I don't have an opinion on U.S. immigration policy specifically but I have heard many experts say that the best immigration policies favour a mix of origins, rather than targeting people from a specific origin or country. You can have a huge proportion of your population as immigrants, provided that they are 5% group X, 2% group Y, 7% group Z, 4% group A, 5% group B, etc. Having X% of your population made up of immigrants, but with 80% of them of a single language and culture, makes it much more difficult to integrate them, as they have a big critical mass that will act as a disincentive to integrate with the host country.
The past month or so the CVS's in the Westbury/Hicksville area have changed their in store advertizing (those annoucements you hear over the loudspeaker) to spanish!
I will definately be calling CVS Corporate to tell them what I think. Has anyone else experienced such announcements? Its not exactly fair when many of the people shopping cant understand what they are announcing!
No, but I don't shop at Westbury/Hicksville CVS stores. My local CVS store that I shop in makes announcements in english. Send me a DM with the actual store addresses that you have heard this in and I will join you in complaining.
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, the areas that use to be to the SE of the city limits are now part of the city (which is likely what you are referring to). Anyway I don't think you can compare one box store you see on TV with the area as a whole. I have been in Toronto (granted its been a few years) and remember seeing numerous signs (and not just English or French).
