Cameroonian demonstrators in Belgium demand President Biya step down and release all political prisoners.
Photo by Jonathan Raa/NurPhoto via Getty Images
You can only properly translate French scatological swear words if you consider who is using them. In this case, the most powerful person in France.
French-language advocates protest Air Canada’s chief executive Michael Rousseau’s inability to speak French in front of the airline’s head office during a demonstration in Montréal. The sign reads: “Rousseau Get Out.”
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ryan Remiorz
No one is forcing people to use “iel” with a gun to their head. But paradoxically, by making the pronoun the focus of attention, critics are inevitably making it more popular.
Pas de sucre ? Pas de souci !
RossHelen/Shutterstock
It’s one of the most common expressions used in French but also one of the most controversial. A linguist explains why “pas de souci” is no mere English import.
Learning a language has many benefits. It improves your thinking abilities and enhances your understanding of the world. Knowing another language can give you a leg up in university applications too.
According to a recent survey of public servants by the Commissioner of Official Languages, more than 44 per cent of French-speakers are uncomfortable using French at work.
CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld
A recent survey reveals a general uneasiness about using French among both francophone and anglophone public servants in administrative regions where bilingualism is required.
English language teachers should encourage students to draw on their own mother tongues. Here, children participate in learning to help Syrian refugee youths prepare for school at the H.appi Camp in Toronto, July 2016.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young
How we teach languages has not evolved much from the traditional grammar-based mode of instruction, and this approach alone marginalizes students’ existing knowledge and communication abilities.
Children being educated in French need to be regularly exposed to the language in order to maintain their skills.
(Shutterstock)
Whether kids are from French-language
communities outside Québec in Canada, or are learning French as a second language, ongoing exposure to French is key to maintaining it. Some resources to help.
Quebec Premier Francois Legault, right, chats with Louise Mushikiwabo, secretaire generale de la Francophonie, Tuesday, June 11, 2019 in Quebec City.
CANADIAN PRESS/Jacques Boissinot
Why do some people greet each other with a kiss? How does the custom vary from place to place? This article is excerpted from the forthcoming ‘Atlas of Regional Expressions.’
To sustain geo-political relations with French-speaking Pacific nations in the future, we need to change the way French is taught to young Australians.
French is no longer taught as a European language representative of “French” culture in South Africa. New modes of teaching, learning and research speak to an inclusive Africanist agenda.
Can innovative professional learning communities help to support bilingualism?
(Mimi Masson)
As Canada’s French language teachers flee the profession, online Professional Learning Communities promise to reverse this trend, stimulating creativity, camaraderie and leadership.