Have you ever wondered why Canada has two official languages, English and French? This episode is dedicated to explaining this complicated subject. Andrew and Maura chat about the historical reasons that caused Canada to be a bilingual country. They also discuss language education in Canada and what it’s like to be an English speaker in the province of Quebec. Maura also talks about how she met Harp in a French class!

Maura:

Another great thing is that because this province wants to protect the French language so much, it’s pretty great that you can take French courses that are subsidized by the government. So you can take French language courses and they’re really inexpensive because the government pays for you. They want you to learn French.

Andrew:

That is right. They’re a great deal and I know that we have both taken these classes before. And actually, I think Harp has as well, hasn’t she?

Maura:

Yes. Actually, that is where I met Harp. We were taking a French class… probably about, I don’t know, 8 years ago now? And in that class, you have a large number of Anglophones and then you also have people from Latin America. I remember there were a lot of Mexicans. And then you have a few Asians. It was kind of a mixed bag.

Andrew:

That’s right. But that is really a great place to get the basics of French down when you first move to Montreal. And I feel like this is sort of a rite of passage for Anglophones when they come to Montreal. They sort of get the lay of the land and get the basic French down in these cheap classes.

Expressions from this episode included in the Learning Materials:

To chat it out

To edge someone out

Anglophones and Francophones

A mixed bag

To applaud someone for something

A pocket of something

A lingua franca

To get something down

A rite of passage

The lay of the land

Code switching

To wrap something up

To scratch the surface

Podcast/Learning Materials: Culips English Podcast, Image Culips