(no subject)

[waterspyder]

I just did French and English Grammar and Spelling tests...

English was no surprise (95%)

And I've decided that everyone that has ever told me that my French is sloppy or imperfect can kiss my ass. 
It wasn't perfect, but it was 80%.

Comments

[corradus.livejournal.com]

I generally tell anyone who expects any decent form of that dying tongue out of me to kiss my ass...then I remind them of the battle at the plains of abraham....

Of course this pretty much rules out a career in the public service....

[purplezart.livejournal.com]

i hope you're joking.

[corradus.livejournal.com]

No actually I'm not.

I am fed up with what the champions of the French language in this country get away with. I am dismayed daily at the realization that despite the fact that hard core french speakers make up perhaps 20% of the total population of this country and yet it is IMPOSSIBLE to get a decent job in the government, public service or (in the case of my city) the Chief of Police without being fluent in that language. Or worse yet, you'll get sent on course at the public's time and expense..to learn a language hardly anyone speaks in this country...

And I have worked around the public service long enough to know that it isn't 'bilingual' they want, it's French. Pur Laine = promotion and that makes me fuckin sick.

So yeah, I don't have nice things to say about this and am unlikely to say anything nice about it in the future....Ogre I be I guess.

[ironphoenix.livejournal.com]

Racism, irrelevant job requirements, and snobbery certainly are problems in the PS. Given the population distribution on the buses headed for government bastions like Tunney's Pasture and Confederation Square, I wonder about sexism, too. Are there really proportionally so few qualified male applicants for those positions?

I believe that we (Canada) should continue to offer government services in French, but not that every person there should have to be able to communicate in it as a job requirement.

[waterspyder.livejournal.com]

I would like to alert you to the fact that only in the National Capital Region and New Brunswick are the positions staffed with bilingual French/English candidates. Everywhere else in Canada it is English imperative (or French imperative in Quebec). Nunavut staffs bilingual English/Inuktitut.

And now I'm going to get all sexist on your ass. There are a great deal of men working in the government and I would safely say there are currently more than women in almost every department I've seen (being a temp placed in several government offices a year). There are some exceptions (ie Nursing), but for the most part, it's still very male-dominated, especially in higher positions. By observing so many women on the bus, you are actually observing the result of a different issue.

Women are more likely to take the bus to save money than men. Also, in single car households, it is typically the man that gets to drive it to work, and if carpooling isn't feasible, the Mrs. gets to ride the bus.. Among single women, whose earning potential still does not match that of men's, they just plain can't afford a car.


And as a footnote... my "school french" was not Quebec French as I did not learn French in Ottawa, I moved to Ottawa to practice French. While some of it was Quebec French, I also learned Parisian French, Southern France French and Vietnamese French.

[ironphoenix.livejournal.com]

Nonetheless, I do know of people whose work does not actually involve French who are required to learn it in order to advance their careers.

As for sexism, I avoided jumping to a conclusion because I knew that my evidence was hardly conclusive. In general, I suspect that you may well be right (although I haven't the data to draw conclusions), but I have a quibble: pay equity in the government is, afaik based on a family full of government employees, pretty good, so the argument that "single women['s] earning potential still does not match ... men's, they just plain can't afford a car" doesn't apply in the particular case of government workers (although it likely applies in the broader context, and I won't deny that gender distribution probably hasn't had time yet to filter all the way up the organizational pyramids.) If I were awake, I would find a way to make the previous sentence less painful.

Even in Quebec, I don't recall being taught the informal converational French used on the street.

Were the various flavors of French specifically taught, or are these things that you've picked up?

[waterspyder.livejournal.com]

The different French varieties were taught that way... mostly since that's where my teachers were from, so yes, there are places in the world tat do say "Zut alors", Quebec just isn't one of them.

I had to learn the Ottawa accent when I moved here.

[ironphoenix.livejournal.com]

so yes, there are places in the world tat do say "Zut alors", Quebec just isn't one of them.

Well, except ironically. Ironic expletive use has a satisfaction all its own.

[ironphoenix.livejournal.com]

However much you holler about it, French is going to be around at least as long as you and I. If you don't want to be able to communicate well in it, that's a limitation I can't and shouldn't stop you from choosing for yourself.

As for a PS career, I don't see you going that way anyhow, French or no French.

[corradus.livejournal.com]

Oh I wouldn't bank too much on that, there is a backlash coming against French, it is slow but sure...

[ironphoenix.livejournal.com]

It's hardly a new thing coming... this argument has been going since my grandparents' time and before. The government requirements will (and should) change to be more realistic, but I think that the language itself will be heard for quite a few decades yet.

[feli-valkyria.livejournal.com]

Move somewhere else where French isn't required so much.

That's my plan. FYI, I can't speak French and I have a damned good reason for it. I like to think I can read French decently though.