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.