Comments | ms_interpret: Canada Day!

ms_interpret

Canada Day!

Jul 01, 2006 13:53

Happy Canada Day to all my fellow Canadians. I got thinking about Canada Day, patriotism, and national anthems this morning, and I have a few things running through my head that I"m going to try to get down coherently. Don't expect much ( Read more... )

language, usa, canada

Comments 14

duncandy July 2 2006, 03:30:57 UTC

I prefer the French version myself. :)

Et ta valeur, de foi trempée

Hmmm....I always thought it was deux fois trompe (twice defended--as in winning two wars)!

sunnydale47 July 2 2006, 03:41:50 UTC

Happy Canada Day!

I find it ludicrous that people in the US are getting all choked about a Spanish version of the Star Spangled Banner.

So do I, Shannon, so do I.

But when they first got there and first started working, how was their English? Huh?

Exactly! My grandparents came to this country from eastern Europe as young adults somewhere around the turn of the 20th century, and even though they lived here almost all their lives, none of them ever learned to speak English very well. They They spoke Yiddish to the end of their days. When they first came to the US, they lived on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, where every major institution, from the bank to the grocery store to the social club to the newspapers to the theaters, was Jewish-owned or Jewish-run, and the lingua franca was Yiddish, just as in many communities in the southwest it's Spanish. Not only is there no need to learn English in an immigrant community like that, there really isn't any way to learn English, since a year's worth of night classes doesn't ( ... )

duncandy July 2 2006, 04:14:05 UTC

I used to be a Customs Officer. It pissed me off to end trying to communicate with people who have been in the country for 20 years and they didn't speak a lick of English or French. I don't buy the excuse that they don't need to learn at least one official language. How do these people get around town, do their taxes, keep informed of elections/politics, deal in emergency situations, etc.? They're moving to a country and using the resources, the least they can do is learn basic words and contribute to society. There are so many people who now move to this country and their English is better than mine. If I moved to another country, you'd better believe I would learn the language (and I actually did do this)!

sunnydale47 July 2 2006, 19:15:23 UTC

the least they can do is learn basic words and contribute to society

How can you equate one with the other? People who don't speak the language may be quite productive and making an important contribution to society. By the same token, there are plenty of native speakers who are contributing zilch and just taking. One has absolutely nothing to do with the other.

If I moved to another country, you'd better believe I would learn the language (and I actually did do this)!It's very nice that you had the resources and educational background to learn the language of the other country. It's also a lot easier to learn if you actually have a chance to practice. I daresay if you had been living in an area where you never heard any language but English, you would have found it difficult or impossible to learn the host country's language ( ... )

duncandy July 3 2006, 05:11:06 UTC

I had no choice but to learn the language, and I did so by assimilating. Obviously I was also more than willing and made the effort, instead of just finding a bunch of English-speaking people and using the excuse "I don't have a need to learn the language." It had nothing to do with resources or educational background. I think a lot of people come here and don't care to learn. That's the point I was trying to make, is all.

By contributing to society I mean learning about the area you move to, learn the history, therefore making informed choices about issues in the community that will in turn affect the country.

Thread 7

babyalligator July 2 2006, 04:11:56 UTC

i really enjoyed this post. thanks! you made so many good points, especially about not feeling "proud" to be canadian, but to feel "lucky" instead.
and happy canada day to you as well!

ms_interpret July 2 2006, 20:15:16 UTC

Thank you! :)

mtl_mama July 2 2006, 14:22:58 UTC

Interesting post. Thanks! (I visited your site...I especially liked the pokes at Quebec. hehehehe)

ms_interpret July 2 2006, 20:14:12 UTC

Oh good. :) I'm glad I didn't offend you. :)

pauamma July 2 2006, 21:30:12 UTC

"forebears" would be a better rendering than "ancestors", I think.

ms_interpret July 2 2006, 23:30:20 UTC

*nod* Probably. I've also seen it as 'forefathers', but they were probably trying not to be sexist and didn't think of 'forebears'.