(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

[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.