'Fed up' with decline of French, Quebec seeks tuition hike for out-of-province students at English universities - eviltoast

The Quebec government is proposing an increase in tuition fees for international and out-of-province students attending English-language universities as a way to protect the French language.

  • BCsven@lemmy.ca
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    1 year ago

    Quebec really seems to want to be its own country rather than melding culture and language like the rest of Canada

    • k_rol@lemmy.ca
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      1 year ago

      Yeah, it’s like a country within a country. The culture is quite different.

    • alsimoneau@lemmy.ca
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      1 year ago

      We do want to meld, but that implies that the ROC needs to meld as well, otherwise it’s an erasure and not a union.

      • corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca
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        1 year ago

        I think the issue is disagreement over that mixing. The (as you put it)RoC sees “province-sized Chinatown but french” and Quebec sees “we will not be diluted one iota”.

        • frostbiker@lemmy.ca
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          1 year ago

          As an immigrant, something I like about Canada is how regardless of where we came from we all make an effort to speak to each other in the common language so that we can learn and understand each other. And then there is Quebec sulking because we don’t speak their language, instead of following everybody else.

          I didn’t lose my culture just because I use English as a vehicular language. I gained all sorts of stuff from other people, which I wouldn’t have if I or they refused to speak the common language. So, please, Quebecois, do share your beautiful culture with us – in the language we all understand.

            • frostbiker@lemmy.ca
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              1 year ago

              If your native language is not English, it shouldn’t be hard to empathize with francophones living in Montreal aren’t happy that their children speak more English than French in a French speaking city because this means that a few generations later French is just going to disappear

              My children speak my native language, but my grandchildren won’t. That’s how it works. Somehow millions of immigrants are expected to understand and accept this, but Francophones somehow feel special?

              Quececois aren’t resisting the sharing their culture, they just want to keep it alive. You asking them to share their culture in the language you understand is just glossing over the fact that the language is a part of the culture

              It really isn’t. My culture, my traditions, my way of thinking doesn’t automatically change when I switch to English or any other language. A language is nothing but a tool to communicate ideas, and a multiplicity of languages only serves as a barrier that stops people from understanding each other. I’m all for a universal language to facilitate the free interchange of ideas.

              That’s a shit take

              That rudeness is uncalled for. You can do better.

              • Victor Villas@lemmy.ca
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                1 year ago

                Somehow millions of immigrants are expected to understand and accept this, but Francophones somehow feel special?

                Yes, because they didn’t go anywhere[1]. They’re not immigrants[1]. How is that difference not obvious?

                It really isn’t.

                K, that’s just ignorance at this point.

                [1] PS. Obviously they immigrated as colonizers at some point, but the language they’re being assimilated into isn’t First Nations. If it were, that’d would be a different story.

                • frostbiker@lemmy.ca
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                  1 year ago

                  Yes, because they didn’t go anywhere

                  Neither did First Nations people, and I don’t see the majority of Quebecois speaking any of those languages either. And thank goodness we don’t have each municipality speaking their indigenous tongues – it would be impossible to talk to each other!

                  So let’s all be practical and discuss our differences and our commonalities in a common language, rather than constructing language ghettos around us out of fear.

                  • Victor Villas@lemmy.ca
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                    1 year ago

                    Neither did First Nations people, and I don’t see the majority of Quebecois speaking any of those languages either.

                    Québécois are not asking First Nations people to forget their language, you are.

      • Auli@lemmy.ca
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        1 year ago

        The problem is its lopsided the ROC gets nothing out of knowing French but Quebecois get to participate in the international community by knowing English. Only way this well change is if America falls since they are the 1000lb gorilla in the global community.

      • baconisaveg@lemmy.ca
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        1 year ago

        English is not a ROC thing though, it’s a global thing, in an online world. So sure, you can create your French-Canadian pockets on Reddit, Lemmy, QC guilds in MMO’s, etc, but you constantly have to step outside of those areas to interact with the rest of the English speaking world.

    • Pyr_Pressure@lemmy.ca
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      1 year ago

      I don’t really see much evidence of the “rest of Canada” wanting to meld culture and language. Other than french immersion schools and the occasional food truck serving up poutine there’s not much of Quebec culture or French language that you’ll find outside of Quebec.

      If they don’t protect what they have, a hundred years from now Canada will be solely an English speaking country and poutine will be covered in nacho cheese.

      I mean, I don’t have any stake in it one way or the other coming from BC but I understand why they feel protective.

      • grte@lemmy.ca
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        1 year ago

        Doesn’t it seem like the stronghold mentality is somewhat self defeating, though? I’m also in BC and there’s not much evidence of French culture around here, it’s true. I’m more likely to encounter Tagalog or Mandarin than French, and would have more opportunity to speak those if learned, but not because those languages are indigenous to the area.