From: "Jen Drouin" <pantagruelle-AT-moncourrier.com>
Date: Mon, 19 Jun 2000 15:56:37 -0300
Subject: Re: Why language is still important


Eric Dickens wrote:
>Just read Julian Samuel's interesting piece about minority representation in Quebec. The thought did strike me, however, that just to be on the safe side he maybe ought to post the French version of his article, since one of the things the Quebequois complain about is the colonialism of the English language. Then he would be criticising them on home ground, so to speak.

Je suis complètement d'accord. French is after all the official language of Québec.

btw, it's Québécois (with a c, and accents on the e's if possible)

In regards to Samuel's article, it is very interesting, and I'm in no way disputing the facts he presents, but I think he fails to take into consideration Québec's political situation. Besides the line between whites and blacks, there is also the important line between federalists and sovereignists to consider. If you want to work for CBC (in French or English) or Telefilm Canada or even Voir you better make it pretty clear that you are federalist and support Ottawa. Cultural instituitions in Québec are political institutions as well because of the sovereignist quesiton. To work for one of these instituitions you often have to get implicated and show your face in politics as well. Are racial minorities doing that currently?

Eric Dickens then added: 
>Britain has not yet got over its colonial past. Part of this colonial past is the attitude that the English language is vastly superior to other languages - which are therefore not worth learning. 

I agree. Sadly, the definition of bilingualism in Québec, for example, is still "a francophone who speaks English" and rarely vice versa.

>Gut reaction tells us that yobs running around insulting Belgians in fluent Belgian* would be foolish. I think that if Brits got a bit further with other people's languages, they wouldn't be so keen to hurl insults in the first place. The total lack of respect and understanding for the necessity of foreign languages significantly contributes towards the colonial condescension exhibited by Brits abroad.

Because, of course, language is more than just a code, it is the doorway to other cultures. In learning a second language, one invaribly becomes familiar with the culture of those who speak it. And that often entails questioning and reevaluating one's own views on that culture. It's a whole lot more difficult to colonize a people when one becomes attached to and understands their culture. Of the few anglophones sympathetic to the sovereignist cause in Québec, 1-5%, I'm sure that all of them speak French.

Jennifer Drouin
Université Sainte-Anne




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