Xref: utzoo can.general:1774 can.politics:2787 Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!csri.toronto.edu!norvell From: norvell@csri.toronto.edu (Theo Norvell) Newsgroups: can.general,can.politics Subject: Re: postings in the French language Keywords: appropriate, language, subsequent Message-ID: <1989Sep26.181439.28060@jarvis.csri.toronto.edu> Date: 26 Sep 89 22:14:39 GMT References: <1178@mannix.iros1.UUCP> <3837.251eb4d9@uwovax.uwo.ca> <1989Sep26.153200.959@utstat.uucp> <29431@watmath.waterloo.edu> Distribution: can Organization: University of Toronto, CSRI Lines: 32 In article <29431@watmath.waterloo.edu> Crispan Cowan writes: >People tend not to like the federal government now. How >will western Canada feel about it when every time they talk to a >federal civil servant the first thing they hear is 'Bonjoure', >followed by broken english. > >Crispin What is it you are against (a) Bilingualism in the civil service or (b) Francophone civil servants. If (b), you are being incredibly racist in a predomenantly tolerant country. If (a), you are likely to hear 'Bonjoure' followed by fluent French. >It's not fun feeling like an immigrant in >your native country. Perhaps. But if you feel that way whenever you are speaking in English to a Francophone civil servant, you are being really immature. As a unilingual, I am glad that the civil service has a bias toward people who can speak to the public in the languages spoken by the public. That way I can speak in the language of my choice. And (back to the original point) I am glad that I can post to this newsgroup in the language of my choice. So while I disagree with the content of the recent French postings, I defend their right to be posted. Theo P.s. I don't like the federal government either, but more for what they are saying than for the language they use.