Post edited and text removed. No swearing -- Cannon
Noone has a right to take away another's freedom in any way, ESPECIALLY to innocent people, via a LAW! It's like... I think the Croatian equivalent of what happened to you would be if someone burned the Constitution. I mean, what is wrong with people? How can you forbid someone to learn? Might as well forbid breathing and eating then, eh? Let the people live on FRENCH water and FRENCH awesomeness? I have nothing against noone, I usually can understand many things and I'm EXTREMELY cool-headed and understanding. But would I meet these people, I'd most likely tear their dumb heads off with a rusty shovel. Seriously.
Like Einstein said; "There are two things infinite; the universe and human stupidity. Although, I'm not sure about the universe."
Sucks to be a weight on the wrong side of the brilliance-insanity scale.
That's some pretty bad situation there. Around here (Bulgaria), learning English is pretty much a must. I mean I've started learning it when I was... 7.
So ye, that Bill 101 is pretty wrong. Hell, it's a bit like cutting your communication with the rest of the world. (Think about being on the internet and not knowing a word of English?)
I also need to add, CEGEP (Quebec specific colleges) and University are two different institutions. Here, you must go to College before going to University.
Analogy aside, I can't see any sane and intelligent people who'd support this clear attempt to separate Quebec from the rest of the English speaking world.
As some wise linguist said, if you can speak Mandarin, English and Spanish then you can communicate with 3/4 of the world. Note - French isn't in there.
It's quite easy for us to say that law is ridiculous.
From the perspective of some Quebecers, it may not be otherwise the Parti Quebecois, which makes no attempt to hide its agenda, would not be elected.
As it is with all democracies, if you don't like the people in charge, organize yourself and like minded people and vote them out of office. Sitting back and whining about it will change nothing, and it shouldn't.
Analogy aside, I can't see any sane and intelligent people who'd support this clear attempt to separate Quebec from the rest of the English speaking world.
As some wise linguist said, if you can speak Mandarin, English and Spanish then you can communicate with 3/4 of the world. Note - French isn't in there.
Most spoken secondary languages of the world, by H. G. Weber, linguist and statistician, in 1997.
1. French (190 million)
2. English (150 million)
3. Russian (125 million)
4. Portuguese (28 million)
5. Arabic (21 million)
6. Spanish (20 million)
7. Persian (20 million)
8. Chinese (20 million)
9. German (9 million)
10. Japanese (8 million)
Source: http://www.andaman.org/BOOK/reprints/web...-weber.htm
The main reason for bill 101 right now is to help people who only speak french (pretty common among those who only spoke english at their school 30 years ago and those who went to school before the mendatory english classes) to buy stuff in diverse shops. It requires all products sold here to have all the information on their package in at least french, or else its illegal to be sold in Quebec. Also, whenever you are served by someone in a public place or a shop, he is obligated by law to serve you in french if you understand french.
While I do understand we have to protect our french culture, since it makes us unique. I have to say though that I do not understand the reason to restrict the access to college in the english language. I have to say, if someone wants to go in an english college, even though he did high-school in french, which should you not let him do so? The guy passed his french exams in high-school, which means that he knows french pretty damn well, I am sure he will not lose it if he goes to CEGEP in english due to the fact that almost everything outside his college is in french.