34 replies to this topic

[hugo]

copemech, on 03 April 2011 - 04:51 AM, said:

Are there really people there that cannot speak english? This reminds me of my local Taco shop!

copemech, on 24 April 2011 - 03:49 AM, said:

Not relly, if you came to live in north america,would you expect to learn the language or have others cater to your needs? I think that is rediculous. Seems to me most were born here. They got Frenchies down here too in LA, but they learn, bit different dialect though.

Same way here though, as the imported mexicans cannot bother to learn the language and expect accommodation, so every goddam thing is printed in spanish on one side, so one cannot read it! Total BS! Next thing, you lads will have to print everythinng in arabic, or blackaneeze, or whatever you call it! Feck that!

I think your comments show a lack of respect and a lack of knowledge... It appears both official languages in Canada are English and French. 1/5 of the canadian population, mostly located in the country's second most populated province (Quebec) has French as their mother tongue. And it's not like they just arrived as you suggest! That is why it is expected for any "official" organization in the country to have its communication handed in both languages, at least if their goal is to reach the more people possible. This is what the CMA has been trying to do over the years and the WTC is going in the same direction with some improvement to be done.
It's already tough to handle national series, if we would fight because one end would not make the effort to communicate with the other, we wouldn't go far. Luckily, experience shows this is a non-issue when comes riding time. At the end of the day, you may as well call that thing a "scorecard" or a "carte de pointage", the only thing that really matters is the number of zeros punched out of it!

[borus]

Canada is multicultural


"The number of individual languages listed for Canada is 86"

Canada. 32,271,000.

First Nations 800,000 and Inuit 32,000 ethnic total (1993): 146,285 L1 speakers (1981 census). 4,120,770 non-English or French first language, or 15.3% (1991 census).

National or official languages: English, French. Literacy rate: 96%–99%.

Immigrant languages: Afrikaans (2,350), Armenian (32,900), Assyrian Neo-Aramaic (5,000), Belarusan (1,240), Bengali (34,700), Bulgarian (11,000), Central Khmer, Chaldean Neo-Aramaic, Corsican, Croatian (71,700), Czech (30,900), Danish (22,300), Dutch (158,000), Eastern Frisian (3,950), Eastern Panjabi (271,000), Eastern Yiddish (37,000), Estonian (10,800), Finnish (25,200), Greek (159,000), Gujarati (80,800), Haitian (76,400), Hebrew (63,700), Hindi (227,000), Hmong Njua, Hungarian (89,300), Icelandic (2,390), Irish Gaelic (6,470), Italian (681,000), Japanese (65,000), Judeo-Moroccan Arabic, Kannada (3,200), Kashubian, Konkani (4,490), Korean (85,100), Lao (18,500), Latvian (9,540), Lithuanian (10,200), Macedonian (25,100), Malay (83,300), Malayalam (9,190), Maltese (9,970), Mandarin Chinese (208,000), Marathi (6,330), Najdi Spoken Arabic (20,000), Northern Kurdish (7,150), Northern Pashto (7,990), Nung, Plains Indian Sign Language, Polish (250,000), Pontic, Portuguese (265,000), Romanian (60,500), Russian (157,000), Scottish Gaelic (6,470), Serbian (50,100), Sindhi (14,300), Sinhala (15,400), Slovak (21,700), Slovene (15,300), Somali (31,300), Southeastern Dinka (15,900), Southwestern Caribbean Creole English, Spanish (611,000), Standard German (636,000), Swahili (25,300), Swedish (16,900), Sylheti, Tagalog (245,000), Tamil (112,000), Telugu (5,390), Thai (9,390), Tigrigna (6,110), Tongan, Turkish (32,500), Turoyo, Ukrainian (201,000), Urdu (139,000), Vietnamese (166,000), Vlaams (7,560), Vlax Romani, Welsh (2,220), Western Farsi (112,000), Western Panjabi, Yue Chinese (399,000). Also includes languages of India and Pakistan (280,000), and of Europe. Information mainly from W. Chafe, 1962, 1965; SIL 1951–2007. Blind population: 27,184. Deaf population: 1,704,551. Deaf institutions: Many. The number of individual languages listed for Canada is 86. Of those, all are living languages.

Edited by borus, 27 April 2011 - 01:19 PM.

[copemech]

hugo, on 25 April 2011 - 04:22 AM, said:

I think your comments show a lack of respect and a lack of knowledge... It appears both official languages in Canada are English and French. 1/5 of the canadian population, mostly located in the country's second most populated province (Quebec) has French as their mother tongue. And it's not like they just arrived as you suggest! That is why it is expected for any "official" organization in the country to have its communication handed in both languages, at least if their goal is to reach the more people possible. This is what the CMA has been trying to do over the years and the WTC is going in the same direction with some improvement to be done.
It's already tough to handle national series, if we would fight because one end would not make the effort to communicate with the other, we wouldn't go far. Luckily, experience shows this is a non-issue when comes riding time. At the end of the day, you may as well call that thing a "scorecard" or a "carte de pointage", the only thing that really matters is the number of zeros punched out of it!

BTW, my Russian born stepson just got got medical license. He is a Doctor here now. He worked his ass off to do it! He speaks rather well. Not bad for 10 years of work!
He didtake english there, as a second, but? I worked him all day, then he went to school all night, and weekends.

Hugo, I really do not mean any disrespect, yet, at the same time, I find it a bit miffing why any group of people would want to come to North America and not learn english. These are not immigrants, there are generations if I understand correctly, and a small group minority(15%) in a localized area that needs (and expects) accomodation?

Culture is one thing, language another. If these kids are not tought English as a primary language at an early age, they are at disadvantage within their own country, no less the world economic environment. Smug culture, yet ? I see no advantage in this.

Edited by copemech, 30 April 2011 - 04:15 AM.

[Steve Fracy]

Just an update from a fantastic first 2 Days from the WTC Nationals. Sections were just about perfect for everyone. The turnout was excellent. Just shy of 60 the first day and just shy of 50 for day 2 so the numbers do not lie! We are very much looking forward to the next two rounds in Quebec, and to see alot of old friends, and finally meet some new ones!

[Steve Fracy]

The final two rounds of the WTC Canadian Trials Championships will be in Morin Heights Quebec on July 17/18. Looking for another great turnout and two great events.

Steve