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To: Clive

This is probably a dumb question..but are the Canadian forces bi-lingual? Seems to me that, if so, it could cause some problems in combat..


5 posted on 07/11/2007 9:03:09 PM PDT by ken5050
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To: ken5050
Canada is bilingual.

Certain units have French as their working language and other units are bilingual.

The majority of units are anglophone because the majority of units are from the anglophone province and the majority of the population of Canada is anglophone.

Officers must be fluent in both official languages.

The next rotation, to take place next month, will be a battle group built around the Royal 22e Regiment (the Vandoos) out of Valcartier Quebec. It is, of course, a francophone regiment. The nickname "Vandoos" comes from how the French "22" sounds to anglophone ears.

The Vandoos have been deployed to Afghanistan before and in fact there are Vandoos there now. Language has not been a problem.

Note that there are units in Afghanistan from several European nations, each with its own working language, co-operating closely in a common mission.

The lingua franca of multi-national military operations is, of course, English, just as it is, for example, of civilian air traffic control both domestically and internationally.

7 posted on 07/11/2007 9:32:05 PM PDT by Clive
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