Just say ‘non’: The problem with French immersion (2015) • Hacker News Board

Re: Just say ‘non’: The problem with French immersion (2015)

#41

Post by sametmax » Fri, May 26, 2017, 10:28 PM UTC

jobigoud wrote: post #40

mgbmtl wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think you're confusing with having a united Canadian identity/culture/nation (à-la-PE Trudeau). Also, nowadays, you probably want to speak more than two languages, or at least have some understanding of more than two languages. I'm always amazed by how many people in the US speak either French or Spanish or both (although, sure I have a very biased experience, being in tech circles). Tear down walls, speak multiple…

Why exactly would you want to speak several languages, if your interlocutor speaks English? I'm French and I'm not religious about the French language itself. Everything would be so much simpler, including sharing cultural differences if all of humanity just spoke the same language. English is the interop layer of human communication. It has imperfections but one imperfect standard is better than hundred or thousand…

One language. One money. One metric system. That would be great.

People are afraid that local identities would be lost. Be the reason people stopped speaking their local language is because most of them don't see a benefit in it. We need to stop the romantic tale and get real.

Re: Just say ‘non’: The problem with French immersion (2015)

#42

Post by bobochan » Fri, May 26, 2017, 11:59 PM UTC

mast wrote: post #22

In some parts of Canada (Ottawa at least), there is no shortage of French immersion programs if parents want them, and I at least haven't noticed any type of segregation. When my son started school, we were concerned about enrolling in a French immersion program because he has had speech and language development issues. We were also worried because neither my wife nor I speak French so we weren't sure if we could hel…

My son is very interested in attending uOttawa because of the bilingual atmosphere of the campus and the city. We are Americans, but the mix of languages and cultures in Ottawa really make it an interesting and cosmopolitan environment, while still having a very walkable scale.

Re: Just say ‘non’: The problem with French immersion (2015)

#43

Post by slededit » Sat, May 27, 2017, 1:02 AM UTC

KZeillmann wrote: post #18

ashark wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This kind of thing happens everywhere. Good school districts in the US aren't usually good because they're better funded or because the teachers are really amazing (those things may or may not be true) but because a variety of factors (including housing costs, commutes poorly served by public transit) result in much higher average teachability and lower disruptiveness in the student body. You're purchasing good peers…

Except that good school districts usually are better funded because they're paid for with property taxes.

This is not the case in Canada where this article takes its data from.

Re: Just say ‘non’: The problem with French immersion (2015)

#44

Post by mgbmtl » Sat, May 27, 2017, 6:23 AM UTC

jobigoud wrote: post #40

mgbmtl wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think you're confusing with having a united Canadian identity/culture/nation (à-la-PE Trudeau). Also, nowadays, you probably want to speak more than two languages, or at least have some understanding of more than two languages. I'm always amazed by how many people in the US speak either French or Spanish or both (although, sure I have a very biased experience, being in tech circles). Tear down walls, speak multiple…

Why exactly would you want to speak several languages, if your interlocutor speaks English? I'm French and I'm not religious about the French language itself. Everything would be so much simpler, including sharing cultural differences if all of humanity just spoke the same language. English is the interop layer of human communication. It has imperfections but one imperfect standard is better than hundred or thousand…

Heh, I agree in theory. In practice, people speak very broken English, and it helps to understand where they come from. Of course, that goes both ways. As someone from Montreal/Quebec, I rarely meet someone from France who spoke good English, just saying. (and I'm sure they think the same of my French, even if it's my first language ;-)

Re: Just say ‘non’: The problem with French immersion (2015)

#45

Post by jobigoud » Sat, May 27, 2017, 8:07 PM UTC

sametmax wrote: post #41

jobigoud wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why exactly would you want to speak several languages, if your interlocutor speaks English? I'm French and I'm not religious about the French language itself. Everything would be so much simpler, including sharing cultural differences if all of humanity just spoke the same language. English is the interop layer of human communication. It has imperfections but one imperfect standard is better than hundred or thousand…

One language. One money. One metric system. That would be great. People are afraid that local identities would be lost. Be the reason people stopped speaking their local language is because most of them don't see a benefit in it. We need to stop the romantic tale and get real.

Global unit system prospect is looking good for the long term I think, we only have a handful of them, if only the US could get its game together on this one it'd be a done deal…

We still have way too many electrical plugs plus combos for voltage/frequency, also a pain. Just had to buy a new hair clipper this morning because my European one didn't like the US mains.

It seems the stuff that involves direct human interactions is the worst, like having around two hundred different currencies. This one is fairly stupid in hindsight, since there is very little cultural value there. But language, the one thing that we use the most to interact with one another, tops everything with thousands of non-compatible variations… sigh.