Some have claimed the proposed new Indigenous names for Winnipeg streets are too difficult to pronounce. But what does it mean when we say a word is hard to pronounce?
School choice policies have positioned schools as existing in a free market of schools, but parents and guardians have different amounts of ‘educational currency’ or privilege when choosing programs.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jonathan Hayward
In a study, teachers who are parents acknowledged programs of choice separate students into cohorts labelled strong and weak, yet many continue to secure spots for their own children.
Parti Québécois leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon at a press conference on Oct. 17, 2022, at the Québec City National Assembly. He repeated that he did not want to swear an oath to King Charles.
The Canadian Press/Karoline Boucher
Yan Campagnolo, L’Université d’Ottawa/University of Ottawa and François Larocque, L’Université d’Ottawa/University of Ottawa
No official French version of the Constitution Act of 1867 exists in 2022. This aberration calls into question the validity of taking an oath to the King in French.
Language-learning research in the Netherlands has determined that using a foreign language rather than just memorizing its grammar can transform how students progress.
French is the official language of Senegal. Photo AFP via Getty Images.
As a language of instruction, French has long held a prominent place in Senegal’s institutions and media. But Wolof, the most spoken national language, has regained its lost places.
‘Lamartine rejects the red flag in front of the town hall,’ a painting by Henri Félix Philippoteaux (1815–1884), captures a seminal moment in the second French Revolution in Paris in 1848, when revolutionaries demanded human and civil rights.
(Les Musées de la ville de Paris)
French has historically been a language of human rights. That’s why the Québec government should promote it as a tool of a human rights-based civic education, not force it on newcomers.
For all sleep-learning’s promises, memorising words while awake was still five times more efficient.
PaeGAG/Shutterstock
In Africa, French will only continue to embed itself - if speaking it is in the interests of Africans and not attached to French foreign policy interests.
In Canada, the French and English languages generally peacefully coexist.
Jeff Greenberg/Universal Images Group via Getty Images
It’s common for people to live near others who speak a different – but similar – language. But generally, they handle their differences without violence.
Québec Premier François Legault defended Bill 96 saying he doesn’t want the province to become Louisiana.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ryan Remiorz
For most Québec residents, there is broad consensus that French should be protected. But many of us believe that multilingualism need not threaten French.
Bilingual education could be the key to improving outcomes in Cote d'Ivoire.
Riccardo Lennart Niels Mayer / EyeEm via GettyImages
Investing in bilingual education can reduce grade repetition, drop-out rates, and improve literacy outcomes.
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.