National Parks in Canada get labeling in both English and French so Quebec guests can feel welcome in western Canada. Here is an important label to make sure they understand what this indispensable item is.
French labeling in Canadian national parks.
- Thread starter Snagglefoot
- Start date
i much rather have french, a constitutionally-derived, legislature-approved official second language, which accommodates a native-born citizenry with 400 years of lawful and rightful presence, than being forced to “press 2” to pander, without our legislative assent, as we must do south of the 48th parallel, and then risk being shut down for saying so.
bloviate
verb
blo·vi·ate ˈblō-vē-ˌātbloviated; bloviating
Synonyms of bloviate
intransitive verb
: to speak or write verbosely and windily
All that word salad to say that you're an American and really dislike Spanish being spoken in the country.
See there, you could get the same point across with a single sentence of less than a dozen words... mi amigo.
My limited understanding from having travelled there is in Quebec they mostly have French only signs? Is that still the case?
The US has no official language because you have the constitutional right to speak any language you want, or the constitutional right to refuse to speak any language you don't want to.
The US has no official language because you have the constitutional right to speak any language you want, or the constitutional right to refuse to speak any language you don't want to.
Yes, Quebec is trying very hard to retain their French culture and identity. Signage in French only is part of that. Doesn’t sound too fair but we are letting them keep a grasp on it. Montreal would have the largest English speaking population and Quebec has a say in where immigration comes from comes to help maintain the French language ratio.
Vermont and Nh has limited signs in French as we love the tourist money..
But the original post here was about national parks, and I believe they have bilingual signs regardless of where. That includes Quebec. And for the most part all government services have some sort of bilingual component.
And ironically I've seen a lot of Parks Canada ads on YouTube recently. And this ad is bilingual right at the end.
And I've seen plenty of multilingual signs at US national parks. Danger doesn't just speak English.
Provincial parks in Quebec are called national parks and most signs are only in French.
The only English that I recently noticed was the sign with pricing.
Staff are 10/10 and things are easy to figure out so I wouldn't let it discourage at all!
At least at the parks I've been to, it is rare to see an out-of-province licence plate.
Everything else was in French:
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Here are some photos from last week @ Mont-Mégantic.
The hiking could not have been better
and a photo from last year in nearby Mont Orford. There are so many great options in the Eastern Townships - it is wild.
The hiking could not have been better
and a photo from last year in nearby Mont Orford. There are so many great options in the Eastern Townships - it is wild.
Jolie
They have bizarre restriction in some cities that dictate signage in terms of which language must be presented in a larger or smaller format. In MTL the English signs cannot be larger than the French ones.
Smaller towns in quebec often have no english speaking employees.
Government employees in places like train stations all of the sudden forget they know English if they decide they dont wish to deal with you or provide help.
Many struggle with English to be honest, especially if they're originally from a small town so I wouldn't always hold it against them.
When something like this happens, I just find someone else to help which usually isn't hard as most Québécois are good people in my opinion.
You hear similar stories all the time and it discourages others from visiting
I mean it when I say I hardly see out-of-province plates in some of the most beautiful places.
OK. Now I'm thoroughly confused. But I suppose it is Quebec and they just want to do things differently.
http://www.sepaq.com
Out of curiosity, other than the naming "national parks" - what's confusing?
It's run by the provincial government instead of the federal government. They do a great job.
https://www.sepaq.com/parcs-nationaux/index.dot?language_id=1
Here's the English section of the website. You'll be served in English no matter where you go.
In my opinion, there's always someone who speaks basic English (unless they're being obnoxious).
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With the pictures it's really not that difficult to figure out......not to mention the translation apps on smart phones. I meet many French speaking Canadians in my area during the summer months.
The public service guy was being obnoxious and was speaking perfect english to the cute girl in front of me, but when I got him those skills vanished and he decided to be a ****.
In Bromont it was common to not have english speakers in small shops, pharmacy. I had a 10 minute long charades ordeal trying to buy bandages which the French word for is " plaster".
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It's not just the government employees. When I was in Quebec in the 1970s most of the locals would refuse to talk to you in English. When I sent back there in the 1980s and 90s they would talk to you in English but but only reluctantly. I was told that the law in Quebec was that they had to try to initiate any conversation in French and were only supposed to only speak to visitors in English if the visitor couldn't speak French. I don't know if that really was the LAW but it was certainly the un-written law.
But the one thing that I figured out while I was there was that the French Canadians expected the other Canadians to speak French! But once they found out that your were an American and didn't speak French then they would lower their standards and would speak to you in English, and I also found out that without exception, they spoke English very well. I also found out that once they found out that you were from Florida, they all wanted to be your friend! It seems like all of the French Canadians dream of retiring and going to Florida during the winter. Once I made some local friends there and was accepted locally, I really enjoyed Quebec.
Still struggling with this.
I feel like most who live in Bromont are originally from Montreal. I mountain bike there almost every weekend and there are no language barriers of any kind for both me and my friends.
Instead of entertaining the charades, ask someone passing by if they might be able to help translate.
I guarantee it would be a pleasure for them to help as chances are, they speak basic English.
Problems can be solved in an instant if you don't let the idiots ruin the day. Idiots can be found anywhere.
