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A few years ago, the French-language leaders' debate was being held in Ottawa (Canada's capital for those who might not be aware). The debate was being moderated by Claire Lamarche, who is a Quebec talk show host.
During the program, and on live TV, Mrs. Lamarche had a seizure and fainted. So they promptly called 911 and as is the case these days, police, fire and ambulance promptly showed up. Imagine that out of all of these emergency responders in Canada's capital, not a single one of them could speak French and communicate with the patient! (Mrs. Lamarche only speaks French.) Audience members had to translate for them, as did her husband from Montreal.
So you see Jambo - your situation is not as special and unique as you often think.
At the same time Acajack, people shouldn't proudly talk about not knowing English in healthcare emergencies. While it may be a reality that many first responders are unilingual, they should be striving and aspiring to bilingualism in order to be better healthcare providers, not exacerbating the situation and making these situations ever more common by actively discouraging second language learning like their some kind of hero for not bothering to learn a language many people speak and would be more comfortable operating in in the midst of a serious health emergency. Sure it's common, but to talk like that is offensive, disrespectful, and shows a cavalier disregard for the lives of Anglophones. A major difference between Ontario in Quebec is that we are guaranteed health services in our language and have English hospitals, so it's not unreasonable for people to expect to be able to receive help in English in serious emergencies, especially since most Anglophones won't know medical terminology in French. It was not cool to start a language debate when a two year old is having a seizure and reveals this guy as a bigot for refusing to even try and acting offended in such a serious situation.
What if a native English speaker (most likely American) whose only knowledge of French is from a Berlitz course, has a medical emergency in rural Quebec?
At the same time Acajack, people shouldn't proudly talk about not knowing English in healthcare emergencies. While it may be a reality that many first responders are unilingual, they should be striving and aspiring to bilingualism in order to be better healthcare providers, not exacerbating the situation and making these situations ever more common by actively discouraging second language learning like their some kind of hero for not bothering to learn a language many people speak and would be more comfortable operating in in the midst of a serious health emergency. Sure it's common, but to talk like that is offensive, disrespectful, and shows a cavalier disregard for the lives of Anglophones. A major difference between Ontario in Quebec is that we are guaranteed health services in our language and have English hospitals, so it's not unreasonable for people to expect to be able to receive help in English in serious emergencies, especially since most Anglophones won't know medical terminology in French. It was not cool to start a language debate when a two year old is having a seizure.
I don't disagree with most of this, but these situations are "he said, she said". Did the paramedic actually say "I am not going to speak to you in English" or did he simply respond to the couple in French when they spoke to him in English? We also don't know if the paramedic in fact does speak English. I don't believe that not knowing English prevents someone from being employed as a paramedic in greater Montreal - although obviously it is a really good skill to have.
Despite how it has been portrayed, this is also more a "feeling at home in English in Montreal and Quebec" than a serious health issue. I have personally dealt with emergency personnel in other countries where would could not understand each other (certainly a lot less than this father and the paramedic could).
Not everyone can speak every single language of every person you might come across and emergency respondents all over the world deal with people they can't communicate with every single day. Cases where these communications-challenged situations lead to tragedy are actually extremely rare.
That said, as a father I am of course very happy that the little girl is OK. That's the most important thing here.
What if a native English speaker (most likely American) whose only knowledge of French is from a Berlitz course, has a medical emergency in rural Quebec?
The answer to this question is he will probably do OK even if speaks ZERO French because even in rural Quebec there is a one in two chance that the paramedic will be able to speak English - perhaps higher. And all doctors in Quebec speak English to some degree as I believe it is part of their training.
The higher-level question, though, merits the following response:
- what happens if a unilingual French speaker has a medical emergency in rural Nebraska?
- what happens if a unilingual Russian speaker has a medical emergency in rural Chile?
- what happens if a unilingual Portuguese speaker has a medical emergency in rural Kazakhstan?
- what happens if a unilingual German speaker has a medical emergency in rural Senegal?
Not everyone in the world is going to speak everyone else's language. And this is true even with English - imagine that people. I realize that it is hard for some people to grasp this but this is global reality. People who don't speak each other's language can still get by and "transact".
The higher-level question, though, merits the following response:
- what happens if a unilingual French speaker has a medical emergency in rural Nebraska?
- what happens if a unilingual Russian speaker has a medical emergency in rural Chile?
- what happens if a unilingual Portuguese speaker has a medical emergency in rural Kazakhstan?
- what happens if a unilingual German speaker has a medical emergency in rural Senegal?
Not everyone in the world is going to speak everyone else's language. And this is true even with English - imagine that people. I realize that it is hard for some people to grasp this but this is global reality. People who don't speak each other's language can still get by and "transact".
At the same time Acajack, people shouldn't proudly talk about not knowing English in healthcare emergencies. While it may be a reality that many first responders are unilingual, they should be striving and aspiring to bilingualism in order to be better healthcare providers, not exacerbating the situation and making these situations ever more common by actively discouraging second language learning like their some kind of hero for not bothering to learn a language many people speak and would be more comfortable operating in in the midst of a serious health emergency. Sure it's common, but to talk like that is offensive, disrespectful, and shows a cavalier disregard for the lives of Anglophones. A major difference between Ontario in Quebec is that we are guaranteed health services in our language and have English hospitals, so it's not unreasonable for people to expect to be able to receive help in English in serious emergencies, especially since most Anglophones won't know medical terminology in French. It was not cool to start a language debate when a two year old is having a seizure and reveals this guy as a bigot for refusing to even try and acting offended in such a serious situation.
I think in the absence of a totally accurate version (he said - she said again), an argument could be made that it is the parents who are making this into a language issue.
They called 911 in a panic. The paramedics came, but spoke French. Dad speaks fluent French (that's what he said), but "prefers English", and maybe insists that the paramedic speak English. Paramedic responds in French, ask the questions that the father can presumably answer (since he speaks French), takes care of the little girl. Paramedic is a health professional not a linguist and doesn't necessarily have time to chit-chat or struggle in a language he might be unfamiliar with but knows his stuff (and even less for a language debate with a dad who "prefers" English but also knows French well), gets the little girl off to the hospital where she gets the care she needs and turns out just fine.
When there are debates in Ontario over how few health care professionals can speak French, anglos always say that it's not about language but about being good in their field, regardless of the language they speak. We have also heard this argument before in the Quebec anglo media when health professionals who speak only English have been refused the right to practice in Quebec because of their lack of French: health care skills should trump language.
I find it odd that in this case the same logic does not seem to be applied.
. A major difference between Ontario in Quebec is that we are guaranteed health services in our language and have English hospitals, so it's not unreasonable for people to expect to be able to receive help in English in serious emergencies, especially since most Anglophones won't know medical terminology in French. .
Perhaps a good question to ask is, given the relatively comparable size of the minority communities (especially in Ottawa when compared to Montreal) in percentage terms, why is this the case?
Would it be unreasonable for a paramedic in the greater Montreal area to be expected to deal with English and French patients? would part of this paramedics job application had a requirement to be at least somewhat bilingual in case he had to deal with an English situation?
Your logic about the paramedic not knowing all languages in the world doesnt apply here as its not reasonable for all paramedics to know all languages only the ones theyre' reasonably likely to encounter,English or French in Montreal,
While your analogy with the Mrs Lamarche story maybe somewhat similar and emergency personnel also should be some what cognizant of French in the Ottawa area its not like those medical personnel deliberately refused to speak French they just didnt know French whereas the responder in the case of Mr Bergeron seems to have come down with transit worker syndrome.
Would it be unreasonable for a paramedic in the greater Montreal area to be expected to deal with English and French patients? would part of this paramedics job application had a requirement to be at least somewhat bilingual in case he had to deal with an English situation?
Your logic about the paramedic not knowing all languages in the world doesnt apply here as its not reasonable for all paramedics to know all languages only the ones theyre' reasonably likely to encounter,English or French in Montreal,
While your analogy with the Mrs Lamarche story maybe somewhat similar and emergency personnel also should be some what cognizant of French in the Ottawa area its not like those medical personnel deliberately refused to speak French they just didnt know French whereas the responder in the case of Mr Bergeron seems to have come down with transit worker syndrome.
He said, she said. You don't know this for a fact.
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