Right now French and English are the official languages of Canada. There are the English parts (the majority of the country) and the French parts (the biggest being Quebec). But it seems to me that the French-speaking parts punch well above their weight culturally. Because their language insulates them from the strong US cultural influence, giving them space to develop their own unique cultural identity and not have to compete with US media. So it would be a big cultural upgrade if all of Canada spoke French. Plus the French language is cool. Wouldn’t it just be cooler if we all spoke French more?

Q: But how would that work?

A: Good question. Well French immersion is already really common (when English-speaking families sent their kids to French-speaking school). What we need to do is make all schools French immersion, and once we have a generation fluent in French we can begin the process of slowly purging the English language from any sort of government institution. Overtime people will be speaking French so much that it will seep into their private lives and they’ll just speak French at home.

Q: But wouldn’t a policy like this be massively unpopular and cause widespread backlash?

A: Absolutely it would that’s why it’s an unpopular opinion. But in an ideal world, we would do it. 🇨🇦🇫🇷

If anyone wanted to phase out English in favour of some indigenous languages I would be in favour if that too.

Edit for spelling

Another edit: why are you guys downvoting this for disagreeing, you’re supposed to disagree thats the point of this sub

  • a_gee_dizzle@lemmy.caOPEnglish
    711·
    12 days ago

    “Hey, you know that language that is one of the most commonly spoken internationally?

    French is projected to be the most common language internationally by the end of the century, due to population growth in Africa and the stagnation of population growth basically everywhere else. If Africa’s economic development goes well that might also translate to more job opportunities, but that’s a lot harder to predict.

      • a_gee_dizzle@lemmy.caOPEnglish
        31·
        11 days ago

        African French (French: français africain) is the umbrella grouping of varieties of the French language spoken throughout Francophone Africa. Used mainly as a secondary language or lingua franca, it is spoken by an estimated 167 million people across 34 countries and territories,[Note 1] some of which are not Francophone, but merely members or observers of the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie. Of these, 18 sovereign states recognize it as an official de jure language, though it is not the native tongue of the majority.[2] . . . African French speakers represent 47% of the Francophonie, making Africa the continent with the most French speakers in the world.[3][4]

        From Wikipedia.

        With the highest rate of population growth, Africa is expected to account for more than half of the world’s population growth between 2015 and 2050. . . . During this period, the populations of 28 African countries are projected to more than double, and by 2100, ten African countries are projected to have increased by at least a factor of five: Angola, Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Malawi, Mali, Niger, Somalia, Uganda, United Republic of Tanzania and Zambia.

        From the UN projections on population growth

        • Beacon@fedia.io
          4·
          11 days ago

          That’s not the part that needed a source. Obviously other languages exist. Your claim about it being predict to become the most spoken language is what needs a source.

          • a_gee_dizzle@lemmy.caOPEnglish
            22·
            11 days ago

            Right. That’s just an implication of the fact that (1) French is very widely spoken in Africa, and (2) the demographic weight of Africa will be increasing throughout this century by a lot (for example look at this graph if you want to see the relative proportions). Its population is shooting up while the population of everywhere else is projected to shoot right down. So even if French doesn’t fully replace English it’s undeniable that its global usage will grow substantially

            Edit: here’s another link for you to check out if you’re still don’t believe that French is, indeed, the fasted growing language right now.

            The TL;DR:

            A study by investment bank Natixis even suggests that by that time, French could be the most-spoken language in the world, ahead of English and even Mandarin.

    • owenfromcanada@lemmy.caEnglish
      9·
      11 days ago

      If French becomes the dominant international language, then Canadians will naturally want to learn it. That still doesn’t justify removing English, especially considering that it’s still one of the dominant languages right now.

      • Swedneck@discuss.tchncs.deEnglish
        3·
        5 days ago

        yeah lmao, if any other language is going to take over it’d be mandarin. China is so hilariously industrially dominant and i’d wager the only reason they haven’t tried to actually culturally take over is because the government doesn’t see a need to.

        If they wanted they could probably have most of the internet understanding basic characters within a decade…

      • a_gee_dizzle@lemmy.caOPEnglish
        12·
        11 days ago

        But the population of China will start to decrease soon if it isn’t already, whereas the population of Africa is booming and will continue to boom for quite some time. And Mandarin is pretty localized to China, without much currency outside the country. In contrast French is an international language used around the world

        Edit: or maybe I’m misreading your comment and that was already your point

        • 「黃家駒 Wong Ka Kui」(old account, migrated to Piefed)@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
          3·
          11 days ago

          You don’t need a lot of population, if you do the imperialism game correctly, you can spread your influence very far and wide.

          Lets ignore the language part and just talk about the American Media… it’s influence is spread all over the world. And the US military… it’s so dominant that it’s one of the most powerful militaries in the world, if not the most powerful one… and has bases all over the world… being able to invade any small nation as it wishes to… US population isn’t even a lot lol.

          (Not that I support imperialism, just sayin’)

          I don’t think France can really even do any imperialism these days…

          • a_gee_dizzle@lemmy.caOPEnglish
            23·
            11 days ago

            US population isn’t even a lot lol.

            It is the third most populous country in the world, iirc, but I take your point

            I don’t think France can really even do any imperialism these days…

            France can’t. But the French Canadians? There might be untapped potential there

    • FinjaminPoach@lemmy.worldEnglish
      2·
      11 days ago

      The problem is that canadians largely don’t want to communicate with africans (not as in “they’re racist,” just as in they have no burning need to) and if they did, a large swathe of africa speaks english anyway

      Canadians like talking to americans and british people. Who speak the Shakespeare tongue.

      • a_gee_dizzle@lemmy.caOPEnglish
        11·
        11 days ago

        Well, we’ll see. China’s economy developed rapidly. It’s not out of the question that the same process could take place in some parts of Africa. Then there’d be a strong economic incentive to learn French.