[PRCo] Re: Europa (Foreign Languages) ESL

[Joshua Dunfield]

Fred Schneider wrote:
> Languages, like Rich Allman pointed out, are always a problem.    
> Adolf Hitler attempted to unify all of the German speaking people  
> into one Germany, or rather sadly one Germany minus the ethnic groups  
> he didn't want in it.   The European Economic Community at least  
> allows people within the EEC to move anywhere they want for a job.    
> It's like you and I crossing a state line for a job.   No big deal.    

Hasn't it changed names twice since "EEC"? :-)

>For example, in Central Station, the Hague, Netherlands,  
> all of the clerks in the general information office speak at least  
> three or four languages ... in common with each other ... I'm pretty  
> certain they all speak English, German, Dutch and French or they  
> simply would not be hired.   They each have one other specialty  
> tongue.   You will find the same true of major chain hotel front desk  
> and restaurant staff, rental car clerks, airline staff, air terminal  
> store sales staff, and, in areas where tourists are plentiful, almost  
> anyone the tourist will encounter.

Most shop clerks and service workers in Montreal are bilingual.  Trilingual
if they're from Asia, Africa, South America...

Language is indeed powerful.  Sometimes I feel more at home in the Indian
grocery stores in Montreal's Parc-Extension neighborhood than in a downtown
grocery store.  And all I have in common with them is that their English
is better than their French.

> ...   He also points out that  
> the demand for ESL slots far exceeds the spaces.   So if you wish to  
> criticize someone for not know the language ... then offer to teach  
> it in your spare time.

Same thing in Quebec.  The province offers French classes to immigrants,
but there's always a long waiting list.  (I'm not eligible anyway; no
point subsidizing someone who's only staying a couple of years.)
That doesn't stop politicians from complaining that immigrants don't
want to learn French.

-j.