Bilingualism

In case you hadn’t noticed, I’m Canadian. That means I live in a (nominally) bilingual country. What does that mean? Well, it means that all our federal laws and official documents must be issued in both languages. Of course, that may or may not happen at provincial or municipal levels. New Brunswick is currently the only officially bilingual province. Quebec is unilingual French, and the rest of the provinces are unilingual English. The degree of accommodation to either of the minority languages, depending where you are, varies quite a lot. For example, merchants in Quebec City and Montreal don’t mind speaking English, just in case they’re addressing a rich USAmerican tourist…

Wikipedia has a good article on Canadian linguistic demographics:
Language demographics of Canada

Sadly, language is used divisively by most politicians, of whatever stripe. That’s one of the reasons why tensions over language continue. It’s a handy whipping-boy for the politicians, used instead of wars to distract us from their less-than-savoury antics.

The linguistic majority here has had much the same feeling as is currently being expressed by our USAmerican cousins about the increasing Spanish-speaking population. While I’m not keen on how they treat their immigrants and minorities, I think that they will find as we have that bilingualism as a movement can neither be ignored nor legislated in any meaningful way. I remember well when it came in force here, as recently as 1969, and how intransigent it has continued to be as an issue. I also think they will find that a substantial linguistic minority, regardless of origin, is likely to push until they get what they want, and whether or not the demographics justify the burden of bilingualism (and it IS a burden, however justified). However, here in Canada we accept it (more or less) as one of the fundamentals of our culture, awkward as it is. If only we were as considerate of our First Nations…

Having said all that, it sounds as if I was opposed to the notion of speaking a second language; I’m not! I can't imagine anything more useful and more mind-expanding than learning at least one other language. As early as possible, so it has a chance of sticking! We've been frustrated here by the attempt to re-educate adults, rather than immersing children, for far too long. Unfortunately, unless you live in New Brunswick or certain limited bilingual regions in the rest of the country, you're unlikely to have sufficient chance to use your second language on a daily basis, and with language it's definitely "use it or lose it", as I know to my cost. On exiting high school *mumble* years ago, I was a fairly fluent French speaker. In spite of having lived in the nation's capital, Ottawa, a supposedly bilingual region, for more than 30 years now, where I could be expected to have lots of chance to use it (but don't really -- don't get me started on people who start speaking English the moment I try my French) I have lost almost all of it. The only time I ever seem to speak French now is on trips to Europe. Like the time I helped a French woman in Bergen Norway with directions. Go figure.

As for our anthem, if you’re interested enough to look, there are some official & unofficial links to the words & music, below. It doesn’t say the same thing in both languages, but that’s no surprise. All too many of our documents say one thing in one language and something entirely different in the other. And of course when you move into the realm of non-official languages, it’s a whole other problem.
http://www.pch.gc.ca/progs/cpsc-ccsp/sc-cs/anthem_e.cfm
http://www.pch.gc.ca/progs/cpsc-ccsp/sc-cs/anthem_f.cfm
http://david.national-anthems.net/ca.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/O_Canada
Personally, I sing “all of us” rather than “all our sons”, and an extra “O Canada” instead of “God keep our land”. But then, I’m not all that dedicated to the preservation of national, gender-based or religious symbols.

We usually treat language along with religion and politics as one of the “touchy” subjects. It doesn’t mean we shouldn’t talk about it, but it tends to produce a lot of shouting. And nobody convinces anybody of their point of view. Too much baggage and emotion attached to the whole sorry business.

The moral of this diatribe? You can't legislate language. It'll get used where it's needed. And to maintain a learned language you've got to live in it at least part of the time, especially if you come to it late.