'Fed up' with decline of French, Quebec seeks tuition hike for out-of-province students at English universities
'Fed up' with decline of French, Quebec seeks tuition hike for out-of-province students at English universities
The Quebec government is proposing an increase in tuition fees for international and out-of-province students attending English-language universities as a way to protect the French language.
The Quebec government is proposing an increase in tuition fees for international and out-of-province students attending English-language universities as a way to protect the French language.
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Quebec really seems to want to be its own country rather than melding culture and language like the rest of Canada
Yeah, it's like a country within a country. The culture is quite different.
We do want to meld, but that implies that the ROC needs to meld as well, otherwise it's an erasure and not a union.
I think the issue is disagreement over that mixing. The (as you put it)RoC sees "province-sized Chinatown but french" and Quebec sees "we will not be diluted one iota".
As an immigrant, something I like about Canada is how regardless of where we came from we all make an effort to speak to each other in the common language so that we can learn and understand each other. And then there is Quebec sulking because we don't speak their language, instead of following everybody else.
I didn't lose my culture just because I use English as a vehicular language. I gained all sorts of stuff from other people, which I wouldn't have if I or they refused to speak the common language. So, please, Quebecois, do share your beautiful culture with us -- in the language we all understand.
The problem is its lopsided the ROC gets nothing out of knowing French but Quebecois get to participate in the international community by knowing English. Only way this well change is if America falls since they are the 1000lb gorilla in the global community.
I'd argue French is more useful in Europe than English.
English is not a ROC thing though, it's a global thing, in an online world. So sure, you can create your French-Canadian pockets on Reddit, Lemmy, QC guilds in MMO's, etc, but you constantly have to step outside of those areas to interact with the rest of the English speaking world.
And French is not a Quebec thing either.
The most spoken language in the world in Mandarin.
You have a very anglocentric view of the world.
Actually, the most spoken language in the world is English.
That's "mother tongue", not total speakers.
I don't really see much evidence of the "rest of Canada" wanting to meld culture and language. Other than french immersion schools and the occasional food truck serving up poutine there's not much of Quebec culture or French language that you'll find outside of Quebec.
If they don't protect what they have, a hundred years from now Canada will be solely an English speaking country and poutine will be covered in nacho cheese.
I mean, I don't have any stake in it one way or the other coming from BC but I understand why they feel protective.
Doesn't it seem like the stronghold mentality is somewhat self defeating, though? I'm also in BC and there's not much evidence of French culture around here, it's true. I'm more likely to encounter Tagalog or Mandarin than French, and would have more opportunity to speak those if learned, but not because those languages are indigenous to the area.