French Language & Culture
The Sea of Anglophones in North America is Not a Threat to the French Language and CultureThis project addresses the question as to whether there is an actual threat to French language and culture posed by the existence of a large English-speaking majority. Particular emphasis will be placed on the French-speaking community of Quebec.With the Quebec referendum just passed, I had the opportunity to see the issues debated over an extended and fairly recent period. The newness and the closeness of my information provided me with an excellent vantage point from which to view what is and has been a hotly debated question in Quebec since the conquest.Many French-speaking Quebecers claim that there is a threat to the French language and point to recent demographic studies which show that, out of a total population of some 6 million people, 2 million of them are Montrealers. Of these, Francophones form a bare majority and, by the turn of the century they will, in fact be a minority (48%). The problem exists in the fact that Montreal is a large, multicultural centre, where immigrants are quickly replacing native French-speakers. The French-speakers, as they move up the socio-economic ladder, are buying houses in the suburbs
The Bill created an uproar and, while many of its provisions were later to be seen as having been beneficial to the French language, initially there was much resistance. My position at the beginning of this paper was that the sea of Anglophones was not a threat to French language and culture in Quebec. The position of Legauly and her co-researcher Plourde plays to these extremists, by refusing to accept the cosmopolitan nature of Montreal. Across Canada, a person may demand service and information from the Federal government in either French or English. No, French is decidedly not drowning in an Anglophone sea, it is floating along quite nicely, thank you. This, while ensuring an immigrant population which would speak French as their second language, caused some upheavals in the French system where in some areas, Francophone children found themselves in a minority in their own schools. The percentage of French speakers is continuously on the rise. " They also admit that French is now the main language of work. Their 407-page report stated that 6% of Francophones work entirely in English, and that 25% of ethnics and 8% of Anglos work entirely in French. According to Josee Legauly, a professor and Sociologist, and Michel Plourde, former head of l'Office de la Langue Francaise, Montreal is still not a "French" city, in the true sense of the word. Between 1976 and 1981, nearly 20% of Quebec's Anglophones left the Province. In addition, the Law seemed to encourage a spirit of intolerance on the part of the French-speaking population. The rate of bilingualism among Anglophones is now greater than that of Francophones.
Common topics in this essay:
French English,
Montreal French,
Metro Montreal,
Quebec's Anglophones,
Franco-Quebecois English,
English Canada,
Quebec Quebec,
French-speakers French-speakers,
HEC Haute,
Language Culture,
french language,
threat french,
threat french language,
language french,
entirely french,
french language culture,
language culture,
la langue francaise,
langue francaise,
de la,
native french-speakers,
l'office de,
l'office de la,
50 employees,
companies 50 employees,
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Acceptance Essays
