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French may be enforced on all flights to Canada
The Local (France) ^

Posted on 04/25/2015 9:35:13 AM PDT by DeaconBenjamin

What started as a row over lemonade could end up with international airlines being forced to employ French speakers on all flights that serve Canada, a country where French and English are classed as official languages.

An MP in Canada, Stephane Dion, has lodged a bill with parliament that if passed would oblige all flights to and from Canada to have a French speaker on board and for all passenger announcements to be made in both English and French.

The inspiration for his bill lies in an argument over a lemonade on an AirCanada flight between Toronto and North Carolina in the US.

A Francophone Canadian couple had ordered a 7Up and the air hostess, who did not speak French, brought them a Sprite, reports say.

An argument ensued and the two passengers are said to have become furious not with the fact they couldn't get any 7Up but because no member of staff on the plane was capable of speaking or understanding French.

They later sued the company but their case was dismissed by the Supreme Court last year.

The court acknowledged that while Air Canada failed to fulfill its obligations imposed by the law on official languages, it was powerless to punish the company because the law demanding both languages are spoken on board only applies to internal flights within Canada.

The MP Dion decided that the law needed changing.

Being able to order 7Up in French on a plane is a fundamental right in Canada and all Canadians should be able to sue the airlines if this is not the case," Dion said this week.


TOPICS: Canada; Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Foreign Affairs; Government
KEYWORDS: aviation; french; language; quebec
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To: DeaconBenjamin

How long until all flights to the US will require Spanish?


41 posted on 04/25/2015 12:09:05 PM PDT by dfwgator
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To: ifinnegan

The animosity is usually with English-speaking Canadians, if they know you are an American, they are more understanding and will generally have no issues speaking in English.


42 posted on 04/25/2015 12:16:20 PM PDT by dfwgator
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To: dfwgator
How long until all flights to the US will require Spanish?

If Jeb Bush is elected.

43 posted on 04/25/2015 12:21:18 PM PDT by DeaconBenjamin (A trillion here, a trillion there, soon you're NOT talking real money)
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To: DeaconBenjamin

No placards in Spanish?


44 posted on 04/25/2015 12:23:17 PM PDT by <1/1,000,000th%
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To: A Formerly Proud Canadian

"Against da rules you know, you stupid when you do dat. Just some English pig with no brains, you know."

45 posted on 04/25/2015 12:24:07 PM PDT by dfwgator
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To: Avid Coug

You don’t get it!! French is AS OFFICIAL as english in Canada. French Canadians are part of the fabric of Canada. Unlike in the US where people have to press one for spanish which is not an official language of the country. Very different situation. This is Air Canada being inconsiderate and ridiculous. FYI there are more french canadians that speak english than the other way around. Quebec Separatists see this idiocy and gives them cred.


46 posted on 04/25/2015 12:26:27 PM PDT by bubman
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To: DeaconBenjamin

Don’t they know that 7-UP needs to be served with Canadian Club?


47 posted on 04/25/2015 12:28:05 PM PDT by 353FMG (muzzies are a national security liability.)
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To: DeaconBenjamin

Make 7-Up Yours.


48 posted on 04/25/2015 12:29:01 PM PDT by dfwgator
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To: clintonh8r

That’s why minorities are winning.


49 posted on 04/25/2015 12:30:26 PM PDT by 353FMG (muzzies are a national security liability.)
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To: Slambat

Whatever became of Canada Dry ginger ale & club soda?


50 posted on 04/25/2015 1:25:04 PM PDT by elcid1970 ("O Muslim! My bullets are dipped in pig grease.")
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To: elcid1970

They sell it here in Indiana.
I buy it occasionally.
Owned by Dr. Pepper/Snapple now.


51 posted on 04/25/2015 1:26:56 PM PDT by nascarnation (Impeach, convict, deport)
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To: bubman
“You don’t get it!! French is AS OFFICIAL as english in Canada. French Canadians are part of the fabric of Canada. Unlike in the US where people have to press one for spanish which is not an official language of the country. Very different situation. This is Air Canada being inconsiderate and ridiculous. FYI there are more french canadians that speak english than the other way around. Quebec Separatists see this idiocy and gives them cred.”

You're right. My father was from Nova Scotia and the only French he could say was Parlez-vous Frog?

52 posted on 04/25/2015 3:11:49 PM PDT by HenpeckedCon (What pi$$es me off the most is that POS commie will get a State Funeral!)
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To: ifinnegan
Je m'appelle Guy and I an NOT Canadian!

I am not unemployed or smuggling cigarette across da border
I don't eat Pepsi and Mae West for breakfass
h'I doan watch da hockey game doing it doggie style
And no,I don't know Claude, Manon or Francois from Abitibi-Temiscamingue
But I'm sure dey all ave nice teeth

I smoke in church
I speak Québécois in joual, not English and French
I pronounce it 'turd' not 'third'
And eating French Fries with cheese makes sense, mon ostie!
h'I believe in a distinc society, as long as someone else pay for it
I believe in language-police, not equal rights
And I believe dat La Club Super-Sexe is an appropriate place for my wife and me to celebrate our anniversaire
What da ell, she goes on at ten, anyway!

In Québec, da Stanley Cup actually comes around more often dan Haley's Comet
I can get beer at the depanneur, not the convenience store
And maybe I can't turn right on a red light,
But tabarnac, I can go right true it!
Because Québec is da world's largess producer of maple syrup
Da 'ome of Celine Dion and Roch Voisine
Da lann where everybody is shacking up and da legal drinking age is just a suggestion.

Je m'appelle Guy h'and I am NOT Canadian!

Mot, t'a dit tabarnac, ostie!
Merci, salute la vedette

53 posted on 04/25/2015 3:13:58 PM PDT by A Formerly Proud Canadian (I once was blind, but now I see...)
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To: Texan5

My opinion - I believe if people from the U.S. are going to visit another country they should learn enough of the language of that country to be able to communicate on at least a very basic level. I have seen too many instances where Americans visit other countries and are upset because not everyone there speaks English. Our family speaks Spanish but only did so when we used to travel in Mexico. When we decided to visit France, we took the time to learn some basic French before going there. The most difficulty I had was understanding the people in England. I expect people who choose to live in the United States to speak, read and write English with some level of proficiency.

In my school days we took at least two years of Latin which really helped with my English.

When Americans do business with people in another country I would think it good business strategy to speak their language unless they request that the conversation be conducted in English.


54 posted on 04/25/2015 3:20:36 PM PDT by Grams A (The Sun will rise in the East in the morning and God is still on his throne.)
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To: Grams A

With a dad who was career military, we learned a few basic sentences in Japanese when we were there, but I doubt I’d ever be able to master a far eastern language-they are just too different. He was stationed in Puerto Rico, and that Spanish dialect is very different than what is spoken in SW Texas/Northern Mexico.

SW Texas ranchers and other small business owners like my family routinely do business with their counterparts on the Mexican side of the border-we are of Latino ancestry, but those who are any other ethnicity speak Spanish for the purposes of business-and just to know another language. Interestingly enough, most people from the Mexican side who do business with people in Texas/NM speak English rather well.

I went to Catholic school, so we were required to learn Latin-my knowing Spanish definitely helped with that. I’ve tried to learn French, but have never been successful-it is very different from Spanish-MrT5 was very good at it, but he learned Quebecois at home as a second language as I did Spanish.

My Brit neighbor rattled off to me a lot of regional dialects of British English, and they all sound different to me-far more variations on the English language than here, and we have several.


55 posted on 04/25/2015 3:54:03 PM PDT by Texan5 ("You've got to saddle up your boys, you've got to draw a hard line"...)
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To: Texan5
They are certainly the ones who use speaking French as a form of snobbery.

One of my best buddies is a Quebecois. He took his family on a visit to France while en-route to Africa. He said that the French treated him like dirt because he spoke French with a Quebecois accent!

56 posted on 04/25/2015 4:01:58 PM PDT by BwanaNdege
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To: A Formerly Proud Canadian

Bien dit.


57 posted on 04/25/2015 4:08:31 PM PDT by ifinnegan
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To: ifinnegan
They will switch to English when realizing my French is not so good with no rudeness or any attitude.

Exactly. Make an attempt. Don't be rude with them, and they won't be rude with you.

58 posted on 04/25/2015 5:21:50 PM PDT by Dartman (Canadian, eh. And proud of it.)
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To: BwanaNdege
One of my best buddies is a Quebecois. He took his family on a visit to France while en-route to Africa. He said that the French treated him like dirt because he spoke French with a Quebecois accent!

No kidding. There is a huge difference between Parisian French and Laurentian French. It's like saying people in Newfoundland and people in British Columbia are both speaking the same "English".

59 posted on 04/25/2015 5:25:25 PM PDT by Dartman (Canadian, eh. And proud of it.)
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To: Dartman

I’ve been learning French with Duolingo for the past year to prepare for my trip to France, I’m pretty confident I can speak it with a level of proficiency, although they are going to have speak “très, très lentement” for me to understand them.


60 posted on 04/25/2015 5:26:55 PM PDT by dfwgator
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