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and yes all public workers in the rest of Canada should be fluently bi-lingual just in case you show up wanting to be served in French.
Hmm. I wasn't talking about Calgary or Kitchener. Sudbury, Timmins, Cornwall and Moncton all have higher percentages of francophones in their populations than Montreal has anglophones. Ottawa has about as many francophones in percentage terms as Montreal does anglos. Plus it has Gatineau in its metro right next door which makes its metro 35% francophones. Montreal's metro is like 17% anglo.
It's not unreasonable to expect some French service in these areas. Or at least, no more unreasonable than demanding English service in Montreal.
If you were expecting to be spoken to in English in many parts of Quebec you'd be dreaming but in Montreal? a place that relies heavily on tourism for this ticket taker to refuse to speak English to some one just reflects a level of ignorance that might be better served else where in the Metro's infrastructure and not out there dealing with the public,i also cant believe the Metro's Human Resource Dept would place a uni-lingual Francophone in such a public oriented position so this guy probably could speak English but chose to treat Mr Montano with rudeness and disrespect,trying to say Mr Montano caused this rude behavior is a bit of a stretch.
As to the reverse logic of Francophones being expected to be served in French in the rest of Canada?There are certainly many places close to the border in Quebec and communities across the border in Ontario where a Francophone can probably be expected to be served in French and to take it a step further to accommodate the Francophone all federal workers across Canada that deal with the public have to show some cursory knowledge of French just in case they have to deal with a Francophone, and of course all packaging and labeling must be in both languages across Canada,so Francophones are as well taken care of across Canada as can reasonably be expected given the numbers.I doubt if an Anglophone in a similar position as this Montreal Metro ticket taker would be so blatantly un accomodating to some one not familiar with English as this Metro worker showed to this person not familiar with French.
Not in anyway saying this guy represents Francophones in general but spending the last 35 years working in a factory with 350 Francophones this ticket takers attitude isnt unheard of.
,so Francophones are as well taken care of across Canada as can reasonably be expected given the numbers.I doubt if an Anglophone in a similar position as this Montreal Metro ticket taker would be so blatantly un accomodating to some one not familiar with English as this Metro worker showed to this person not familiar with French.
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How can you even say this with any degree of certainty?
How can you even say this with any degree of certainty?
We are just chatting about our personal opinions based on general obsevations on the issue so "certainty" is a relative factor,What you see and what i see can produce entirely different opinions.
I don't understand why Anglophones are upset about being expected to communicate in French when in Montreal or Quebec.
I am a recent Anglophone immigrant (from Vancouver). My French sucks, but I'm trying my hardest, and I would never in a million years approach someone and speak to them in English first. I try to communicate in French (asking them to speak slowly), and if they still do not understand me, then I ask them if we can use a mix or even if they can understand English.
And surprise, I have not once experienced rudeness or hostilities here in *rural* 99.999% Francophone Quebec, let alone in Montreal. You'd be surprised to see how polite (and bilingual) people would be if you simply respected their official language first. Same goes for any other non-Anglophone major city on this planet.
I don't understand why Anglophones are upset about being expected to communicate in French when in Montreal or Quebec.
I am a recent Anglophone immigrant (from Vancouver). My French sucks, but I'm trying my hardest, and I would never in a million years approach someone and speak to them in English first. I try to communicate in French (asking them to speak slowly), and if they still do not understand me, then I ask them if we can use a mix or even if they can understand English.
And surprise, I have not once experienced rudeness or hostilities here in *rural* 99.999% Francophone Quebec, let alone in Montreal. You'd be surprised to see how polite (and bilingual) people would be if you simply respected their official language first. Same goes for any other non-Anglophone major city on this planet.
Because (some of them) think that Quebec is just a gigantic ethnic neighbourhood in the middle of what they see as a totally English-speaking country. Rather than a legitimate, fully-functioning French-speaking society that has been that way for some 400 years.
Joe Blow Anglo in Vancouver doesn't really make an effort to speak Chinese when he shops in Chinatown, and Joe Blow Anglo in Toronto doesn't learn Greek when he moves into a new condo in The Danforth.
They see Quebec in these same terms - only it's bigger and more of a pain in the ass.
I don't understand why Anglophones are upset about being expected to communicate in French when in Montreal or Quebec.
Many Anglo's are new comers who havent learned French yet, others maybe tourists who are just here for a short time, or business people just here for a short time.or just for whatever reason people who just cant speak French.
For Metro employees not to take these factors into consideration when dealing with the public can give those people a bad impression of Montreal and maybe Quebec in general if failure to communicate in French is met with rude ignorant and disrespectful behavior from public sector employees..
It's just all frame of mind. I enjoyed being in Quebec and hearing and seeing all the French despite being a pretty poor student of the language. Its part of being there. But I overheard quite a few people around town talking about the hassle it was causing them. Seems to me if you feel hassled by the occasional interactions in another language you might as well stick to the English world, should you not?
Most people enjoy Quebec,but if you are subjected to uncalled for rude behaviour just because you cant speak French your experience may not be all that it could be, as an example what do you think the victim of this uncalled for event may tell his family and friends about his experience in Quebec. Montreal Impact player files racism complaint after metro dustup
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