The school needs a helping hand
Well done, sir, your suggestions are very appropriate. As a retired teacher, I see the damage to written French in my family and in the teaching environment. Quickly for refresher courses for future teachers and recognition for success in writing. I would add efforts on the part of parents who could be more involved in helping by giving quality time for homework help. The laziness that sometimes reigns in all walks of life adds an extra burden to schools that need more support to encourage students to be more successful and love learning.
Julie Morrisette
Quality services in French
Thank you very much, Mr. Bélisle, for your column. I particularly like your two “clarifications”. They will strengthen my arguments for continuing to obtain quality services in French, when I do business, for example, with certain large Canadian companies or certain smaller organizations whose quality of services in French leaves something to be desired.
Daniele Ayotte
language and thought
He is not yet present in this world the day when we will all speak the same language in order to understand each other well. French for us as the main language is of paramount importance if we want to be able to think well, understand and express ourselves. Without a well-understood and well-spoken language, intelligent thought suffers.
Gaétan Charland, Sainte-Sophie
Let the youngsters explore
I agree that the attraction of a culture is an incentive to use that language. That English conveys American culture which, in turn, encourages people to speak… or sing English. But imposing French as the only language sung in end-of-year school shows amounts to a form of censorship that would not honor us. I have two boys, one in high school and the other in CEGEP. They both had their periods of initiation to French and English cultures. My youngest only listened to French videos and French and Quebec rappers for a long time. Lately, he discovered rock, and he did a show of lipsynch and dancing to Michael Jackson. He had a lot of fun doing that, and I wouldn’t have imposed Klô Pelgag on him, sorry. You, like me, alternately loved Charlebois, Pink Floyd, Harmonium and U2. We must not impose Quebec artists to make people like Quebec culture. If you do that at school, you will rather disgust them with our culture, which will be that of artistic ruts. Let our young people explore their world, especially in the field of art, please. The quality of the French of our young people is that which they first learn at home. Let us be vigilant and considerate towards them and talk well among ourselves. It’s not all about the rules.
Michel Bérubé, Saint-Bruno
love our language
Let’s talk about the language, yes, above all, let’s speak it better and take responsibility for it. We must stop blaming anglophones for the fact that the French language is in decline in Quebec. We must realize that we have a duty to make ourselves respected and to demand that we, francophones, be addressed in French in Quebec. Our paranoia in the face of English makes us beings who want to change others when we have to take this situation in hand and in the right way. The solution is not to ban everything that is English, but rather to improve everything that is French. The goal is not quantified in quantity, but in quality. Let’s be honest and recognize that English speakers are only a threat in our heads. We waste precious time compiling statistics of spoken French compared to spoken English. Let us first love our language and we will succeed in making it loved and spoken.
Nicole Lavoie
Tackle the issue head-on
Out of conviction, out of observation, I congratulate you for encouraging those who hesitate to tackle the issue head-on. Furthermore, I agree with your proposals so that we come to “talk about [notre] language “. The first of these reminded me of my father René-Salvator Catta. In the early 1960s, during a period of his career in Quebec, he participated in the founding of the École Normale Supérieure. He was a linguistics professor there for a few years. Among the archives I have is the presentation of his course. I am copying for you one of the objectives he defends there and which he tried to put into practice: “collective awareness of the problem [incompréhension de la langue, diction déficiente, présence ou action déficiente en public, syntaxe parlée inadéquate, absence de lien connaissance-langage] ; that the various forms of language be introduced into the subjects of the courses themselves [mathématiques, français, philosophie, etc.] “. At the time, did the Parent Commission address this aspect directly affecting the structures and levels of education? I do not know. But if so, it seems to me that French would not be neglected – first orally, then in writing – as it is today, nor threatened with such dilution.
Genevieve Catta, Sainte-Adele