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I suspect as well that some of the best-educated among the French-speakers also voted against secession; they realize that Quebec doesn't have the economic strength of Ontario and some of the western provinces. It's the lesser-educated among the locals en provence who can't seem to understand that their isolation and xenophobia is one of the root causes of their failure to thrive, so it's little wonder that my friends in Metro Montreal have little interest in joining them.
Canada ... strong and free ... (and multi-lingual)!
Hmm... studies show that among francophones at least, being more educated makes you slightly more likely to favour Quebec independence.
Independence support is highest among white collar francophones and also among blue collar unionized types. It is lowest among affluent self-made francophone businesspeople (not necessarily university-educated). And also among francophones who are practising Catholics.
WHAT?!? Quebec is roughly 85% French native speakers. And overall about 95% of the population *can* speak French. These numbers are either equal or even higher than the comparable figures for English in the United States of America!
As for the vote in the 1995 referendum, yes immigrants and anglophones and native groups voted predominantly against independence, but so did about 40% of the francophones.
The non-francophone population of Quebec is nowhere near numerous enough to counter the will of francophones. It's only about 15%.
I'm wondering if this is yet another poster that thinks Montreal IS representative of this giant province.
I'm wondering if this is yet another poster that thinks Montreal IS representative of this giant province.
Indeed. And French is far from a negligeable factor in Montreal as well. The city has lots of immigrants and anglophones and the population can be broken in many ways, but French is still what is used in everyday life by three quarters or more of the population there.
Montreal is far from being Toronto or Chicago surrounded by rural New France.
There are still some here in south Louisiana who are bilingual. They speak both English and French (Cajun or Creole) despite the efforts of USA following the Civil War. When the Union Army took over Louisiana, one of the things they did was write into the state constitution that the French language was illegal. They brought in teachers from outside the area who beat the students for speaking French (the only language they knew). By beat, I'm not just talking about with a paddle or a belt. I'm talking about open handed slaps, closed fist punch, and sometimes even a bullwhip.
Seems like we are already effectively bilingual; all products and instructions are at least in English and Spanish, store signs at Walmart, Costco, Gas stations, kids TV teach Spanish, my kids daycare teaches Spanish, local school districts encourage at least a few years of Spanish (and this is in a Northeastern state).
So how soon that the US is in practice bilingual? Something like watching the President give a policy speech in Spanish with English subtitles. Or an episode of a TV program being in Spanish on a major network?
How long until we go metric?
how long until baseball does away with the DH?
I wouldn't expect to see it in my lifetime, imho
Truly bilingual nations such as Belgium are that way for historical reasons of their formation, and not from demographic trends. Typically, the nation is carved out from contiguous but formerly disjoint segments of two empires, or are former colonies with borders formed after the colonizing nations retreated without one of them completely conquering the other.
Spanish appears to be so dominant in the modern US because so much of the unskilled and semi-skilled labor is performed by Spanish-speakers. Usage of Spanish is therefore highly concentrated. But I don't think that English is under threat because it remains on inexorable course as the global language of science, business, law and transportation.
While much has been said about this or that immigrant group being recalcitrantly resistant to assimilation, my view is that the great assimilators are prosperity and political clout. The native language is the language of outsiders, or persons on the periphery, lacking political or economic power. As more Hispanics become US citizens, we'll see more English used by persons of Hispanic ancestry.
Wow! That's pretty hard to believe considering that you lived 4 years in Los Angeles and 6 in San Francisco... I'm not trying to say that your lying or anything, but something about your story doesn't seem to add up...
Contrary to popular belief, there are large areas of both LA and SF where Spanish-only speakers are quite rare.
No money? Doesn't matter what "other" language you speak. I've been in 3d world countries where I've pulled out a 20 dollar bill and suddenly you are in an english speaking country.
Technology wise, we are close to the Star Trek "universal translator". Language doesn't matter except the "currency" one.
My wife and I were having a conversation along these lines with some friends who immigrated to the US from central America. They are having great difficulty in getting their children to speak Spanish at home. They speak English to each other, and respond to their parents in English. Our friends are afraid they will lose their ability to speak Spanish and said this is a common issue among other families they know.
That would be consistent with the American experience. The first or maybe second generation speak the mother tongue, but that's the end of it. I know a few words and phrases in my granparents' native language but I'm not at all conversant in it.
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good question
