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by miguelrochefort 3643 days ago
Quebec is trying to save French through some crazy laws:

- You can't have a company whose name isn't French.

- The company I work for had to replace all keyboards by French keyboards, had to switch to an HR software available in French, had to switch all OSes to French, had to put French stickers on the microwave oven, etc.

- I can't send my kid to an English school if I haven't been to one myself.

3 comments

- You can't have a company whose name isn't French. That's much more nuanced than that. See article: http://news.nationalpost.com/news/canada/quebec-cracks-down-...

- The company I work for had to replace all keyboards by French keyboards, had to switch to an HR software available in French, had to switch all OSes to French, had to put French stickers on the microwave oven, etc.

It's about having the language of the work environment in French. If the company decided to switch the keyboard to French and change your microwave in French, that is just a company policy, not a government regulation. The point of having the HR software in French is to allow someone that only speak French to work in HR in the company. Surely you can still use the software in English if you want to, but at least it's available in French.

No, the French police forced us to made these changes.
On the other hand, at this point, anyone under 30 in Quebec is fluent in English, because they had to be to pass school. I've only had trouble making myself intelligible to people 40-60+, and even then, that tends to be when I am way, way north-east towards Baie Comeau.
I think it's a question of usage.

I went for a hike off the beaten track in Quebec City and asked for directions and a 22yo 'kid' confessed to me he hadn't spoken English since he left school.

Further north, everyone in Riviere du loup understood my butchery of their language and replied in English - except at the farmers' market, where local producers don't get many Anglo customers (except the winemaker who offered tours of her vineyard)

"Big Mac is Big Mac, but they call it Le Big Mac" (C)