(Quebec) The most recent portrait from the Office québécois de la langue française (OQLF) on the vitality of French in Quebec shows significant disparities between regions, in the context where Montreal and Gatineau stand out from the rest of the province by recording a more marked decrease in the proportion of their citizens able to carry on a conversation in French.
The OQLF’s five-year report, which was tabled Wednesday at the Salon Bleu by the Minister of the French Language, Jean-François Roberge, presents 18 major findings on the state of health of French in Quebec. Themes such as young people and culture, the language of teaching and work, the demolinguistic context and immigration, or regional disparities, are addressed.
In the census metropolitan areas (CMA) of Montreal and Gatineau, Francophones still represent a smaller share of the population than elsewhere in Quebec, standing at 66% for Montreal and 73% in the largest city of the ‘Outaouais, compared to 94% in the rest of the province.
However, although this situation is not new, this “gap has increased [et] Added to this is the fact that the proportion of the population who is able to carry on a conversation in French has decreased in the Montreal and Gatineau CMAs, more than elsewhere in Quebec,” recalls the OQLF.
“These developments occur at the same time as we are seeing a visibly less use of French in the public sphere in these two CMAs. Thus, not only has the share of people working mainly in French decreased more in these two territories than in the other regions of Quebec, but the data also show that the share of the population using French mainly outside the home is significantly higher there. lower than elsewhere,” adds the organization.
In these two cities, “a third of adults regularly use English outside the home”, while “the proportion of adults surveyed who declared using French and English equally or mainly English at home” “outside the house was significantly higher in the Montreal (32%) and Gatineau (37%) CMAs than in the other Quebec CMAs (from 4% to 9%).”
Young people and language
In its five-year report, the OQLF also notes that a “substantial” share of young people say they are in favor of using English at work, in businesses and in the digital world.
“In Quebec, people aged 18 to 34 are proportionally more likely than their elders to know the English language, and a third of them say they prefer to work in both French and English or only in English,” can be we read in the document. Furthermore, “the majority of 18 to 34 year olds use English fluently to […] post on social media, play video games, listen to podcasts or shop online,” we add.
“In a dozen years, there has been a decrease in the share of workers aged 18 to 34 reporting using French for at least 90% of their working time. This share increased from 64% in 2010 to 58% in 2023,” continues the OQLF.
In terms of education, among Montreal CEGEP students coming from secondary school in French, “one in four studies in an English-speaking college”.
“Despite the advances in schooling in French [au primaire et au secondaire]which are a result of the adoption of the [Charte de la langue française, en 1977], particular issues seem to be emerging with regard to college education. Thus, we observe a growing attraction, among young people educated in French at secondary level, to continue their studies in English rather than in French at college,” affirms the OQLF.
“On the island of Montreal, among people newly enrolled in college coming from secondary school in French, the share of those who opted for an English-speaking college increased from 18% to 25% between 2011 and 2021. Elsewhere in Quebec, this share increased from 3.1% to 5.5%,” we add. Note that the Legault government refused to impose Law 101 on CEGEPs, but that it put in place new requirements for French and allophones studying in English-speaking CEGEPs so that they pass the uniform French test. before graduating from college.
Maintain a conversation in French
At the demolinguistic level, the OQLF report notes that “the share of the population who knows French sufficiently to carry on a conversation has decreased” from 2016 to 2021, a slight decline which went from 95% to 94%.
In the context where temporary immigration has exploded in recent years, the organization responsible for applying the Charter of the French Language recalls that “the proportion of individuals knowing enough French to carry on a conversation, which was 94% in the entire Quebec population in 2021, was only 76% among recent immigrants and 68% among non-permanent residents.
In terms of language used at work, “the share of people most often using French at work has decreased slightly (standing at 80% in 2021) in favor of the share of people most often using English (14 % in 2021)”. For the OQLF, “this is the continuation of a trend, since the share of people working mainly in French has decreased with each census after that of 2006”.
In businesses, despite the numerous denunciations of “Hello Hi » in Montreal, “the service is spontaneously given in French on the island of Montreal nine times out of ten”.
“The results obtained in 2023 concerning six urban areas of Quebec show that the impossibility of being served in French is a marginal phenomenon”, we add, specifying that “on the island of Montreal, in 90% of cases , the service is provided in French by the staff following a question asked in French by the customer.
“If, in Quebec and Sherbrooke, the reception in businesses is almost exclusively in French, it is different on the island of Montreal, in Laval and in Gatineau, where the rate of reception in French only is more low (it was respectively 71%, 80% and 86% in 2023). Furthermore, the data collected over the years in businesses on the island of Montreal show that the welcome in French only has decreased, while conversely the bilingual welcome, that is to say the reception both in French and in English has increased,” writes the OQLF.