Du bilinguisme au multiculturalisme – Selon qu’on est anglophone ou francophone…

2013/10/12 Leave a comment

Interesting poll comparing support for bilingualism, multiculturalism, biculturalism, and official languages. Fairly significant age and regional differences, but nothing too surprising:

Selon Jack Jedwab, ce sondage permet aussi de faire des recoupements fort révélateurs. « Par exemple, le sondage démontre que les répondants qui sont les plus favorables au multiculturalisme sont aussi ceux qui sont les plus favorables au biculturalisme. C’est que, dans leur perception, le multiculturalisme n’est qu’une extension du biculturalisme. À l’inverse, les répondants les moins favorables au multiculturalisme sont aussi ceux qui sont les moins favorables au biculturalisme, leur perception identitaire étant plutôt celle de la singularisation. Il est donc faux de prétendre que les tenants du multiculturalisme sont opposés au biculturalisme et au bilinguisme. Ce sont plutôt les opposants au multiculturalisme qui s’opposent aussi au biculturalisme et au bilinguisme. »

Du bilinguisme au multiculturalisme – Selon qu’on est anglophone ou francophone… | Le Devoir.

Filed under Interculturalisme, Multiculturalism Tagged with , , ,

Bilingualism isn’t a sign of community decay

2013/10/09 Leave a comment

Bilingualism from a BC perspective by Henry Yu – English and Asian languages. Resentment by English speakers with other languages remains an issue; being able to recognize that people live in both and the opportunities for exchanges and getting to know each other remain:

One of those legacies is the odd belief that it is better that we all speak only English for the benefit of those who can only speak English, rather than allowing those who can speak both English and other languages to be respected and even rewarded for being able to speak many languages. English is extremely useful as a lingua franca, a language used in common by many people who can also speak other languages. That is fundamentally different than saying we should all speak only English all the time.

In this city, almost all those under the age of 25 who can speak Chinese can also speak English. They have the wonderful ability to speak multiple languages.

Those Cantonese-speaking youngsters on the bus likely use English most of the time at school and work. Why be angry at them for being able to also carry on a conversation in another language?

Guest column: Bilingualism isn’t a sign of community decay.

Filed under Multiculturalism Tagged with , ,

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