Many English-speaking Canadians indifferent to French: federal research

Many English-speaking Canadians indifferent to French: federal research

Many English-speaking Canadians are indifferent to French even after 54 years of official bilingualism, says in-house federal research.

And what of French-speaking Canadians?  Are they indifferent to English?

“Less than a third of English speakers, 31%, said they were interested in French movies or music. Only 16% said they had a basic knowledge of French, enough to understand in routine situations like ordering a meal in a restaurant. Just 4% said they had attended a cultural event in French.”

And what of the French speakers in Quebec?

The report said 44% of English speakers said they did not count French speakers among their “friends, neighbours, relatives or co-workers.”

Could it be because we live in a MULTI-CULTURAL nation?

South Asian (7.1%) Indigenous (5%) Chinese (4.7%) Black (4.3%) Arab (1.9%) Latin American (1.6%) Southeast Asian (1.1%) West Asian (1%) Korean (0.6%) Japanese (0.3%) Multiracial/Other (3.2%)

For language, we have (as of 2017):

The most frequently spoken language at home other than English or French was Mandarin, spoken by 641,100 Canadians. It was followed by Cantonese (594,705), Punjabi (568,375), Spanish (553,495), Tagalog (525,375) and Arabic (514,200).

English is the language of international businesses, as of now.

So unless you want to become a federal politician or a government civil servant, the need to be bilingual in English/French is next to nothing.

For businesses that deal in Quebec as the rest of the nation, their call centers (IMO) when you press 2-for French, you get transferred to a call center in Quebec anyway.

When I went to elementary school in Canada, the teachers clearly stated “while we are required to teach a class of french to you, you are not required to learn it.” So most did not.