New Quebec Language Law silliness: "Le Magasin Walmart"

Started by Barrister, November 19, 2012, 01:59:39 PM

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Sophie Scholl

With all of your bitching about the minority English speakers in Quebec, change the terms to minority French speakers in Canada.  It's fun. :)
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Habbaku

Quote from: viper37 on November 19, 2012, 11:30:55 PM
That's a fetish I'll never get.  Half asian-caucasian, cool, but full asian girl, no, just no.

meowtf
The medievals were only too right in taking nolo episcopari as the best reason a man could give to others for making him a bishop. Give me a king whose chief interest in life is stamps, railways, or race-horses; and who has the power to sack his Vizier (or whatever you care to call him) if he does not like the cut of his trousers.

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Berkut

Quote from: viper37 on November 19, 2012, 11:29:55 PM
Quote from: garbon on November 19, 2012, 11:01:13 PM
I'm not sure these are the examples you want. After all, with no official language in many states (and not federally), we end up catering to many languages as necessary.
So I can move to the US and request my tax form in French?

Yes you can.

Quote
  I can get to a local unemployment office and ask for someone to speak to me in French and that would be seen as totally ok?

Probably. Why that not be ok?
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A spanish speaking citizen in Mississipi would get a trial in Spanish if he desired so?

Not likely. But he could ask.

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Barrister

Quote from: viper37 on November 19, 2012, 08:53:05 PM
Quote from: Barrister on November 19, 2012, 04:50:31 PM
Plus it establishes that their signs have to be changed at the whim of a bureaucrat.
Which is the core of the debate here.  Not that english canadian media will report it that way of course.
It's not unusual for the citizens to go to court against various government office because bureaucrats have a creative way of interpreting the laws.  It's not unusual for the government, the elected body representing us, to sit on the fence and claim "independance" when it suits them.

Judgement against the government have been numerous.  Wether it be the creative interpretation of the construction laws by the Commission de la Construction du Québec or the creative interpretation of what your revenues should be by Revenu Québec, corporations and citizens go to court every day against their government to have their rigths respected.  It's not like Walmart is some unique case just because it's about a trademark.  But it's damn sexier than "Citizen sues Revenu Québec for harassment".

So Quebec government sucks, and this is just an examle of that? :huh:
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Zoupa

Yup. It sells papers and got you talking though, feeding the myth.

Oh, Canada.

Neil

Quebec is a racist province, and they deserve all the bad things that happen to them.
I do not hate you, nor do I love you, but you are made out of atoms which I can use for something else.

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garbon

"I've never been quite sure what the point of a eunuch is, if truth be told. It seems to me they're only men with the useful bits cut off."
I drank because I wanted to drown my sorrows, but now the damned things have learned to swim.

garbon

Quote from: Berkut on November 20, 2012, 12:37:41 AM
Quote from: viper37 on November 19, 2012, 11:29:55 PM
Quote from: garbon on November 19, 2012, 11:01:13 PM
I'm not sure these are the examples you want. After all, with no official language in many states (and not federally), we end up catering to many languages as necessary.
So I can move to the US and request my tax form in French?

Yes you can.

Quote
  I can get to a local unemployment office and ask for someone to speak to me in French and that would be seen as totally ok?

Probably. Why that not be ok?
Quote
A spanish speaking citizen in Mississipi would get a trial in Spanish if he desired so?

Not likely. But he could ask.



Yeah we're pretty accommodating. Hell, my sample ballot came in a bunch of different languages that you can vote in.
"I've never been quite sure what the point of a eunuch is, if truth be told. It seems to me they're only men with the useful bits cut off."
I drank because I wanted to drown my sorrows, but now the damned things have learned to swim.

Razgovory

Yeah, I mean you an get government communications in all sorts of languages.  The government has to make a good faith effort to communicate to its citizens, which means it will send tax forms to you in French if you so chose.  You won't get a trial in French, but I think the government is required to give you an interpreter so that you can aid in your own defense.  In practice it would be harder to find a French interpreter then a Spanish one due to the low number of French speakers in the country.  Now if you demanded a French interpreter and could speak perfectly fine English they might hit you with sticks for being an asshole.
I've given it serious thought. I must scorn the ways of my family, and seek a Japanese woman to yield me my progeny. He shall live in the lands of the east, and be well tutored in his sacred trust to weave the best traditions of Japan and the Sacred South together, until such time as he (or, indeed his house, which will periodically require infusion of both Southern and Japanese bloodlines of note) can deliver to the South it's independence, either in this world or in space.  -Lettow April of 2011

Raz is right. -MadImmortalMan March of 2017

Josquius

I'd be with them if it meant changing things like sub-titles, e.g. "Lowest prices in the world" or the like into French but the names of shops too? That is just stupid.

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So some companies have taken steps to change their name — like Kentucky Fried Chicken, which is known in Quebec as "Poulet Frit Kentucky." But others, like Walmart and Best Buy, have set up shop under the same name that appears elsewhere in the world.
This KFC one is particularly weird. I was under the impression it didn't even use the Kentucky Fried Chicken name anymore and just stuck to the pure KFC branding as it said enough.
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Razgovory

I've given it serious thought. I must scorn the ways of my family, and seek a Japanese woman to yield me my progeny. He shall live in the lands of the east, and be well tutored in his sacred trust to weave the best traditions of Japan and the Sacred South together, until such time as he (or, indeed his house, which will periodically require infusion of both Southern and Japanese bloodlines of note) can deliver to the South it's independence, either in this world or in space.  -Lettow April of 2011

Raz is right. -MadImmortalMan March of 2017

Camerus

I liked Viper's explanations on the culture background of what is a pretty dumb measure.

Still, it's hard to believe nationalists are helping themselves in any meaningful way with such excessive measures (or by fostering a climate in which such could occur), since it just serves to make them look ridiculous - even in the eyes of many of their own members - and frighten business away.

But I suppose that's just a realistic side-effect once a society has largely accepted the "endangered culture" mentality (which is IMO probably a valid perception).

Razgovory

I thought Nationalists looking ridiculous was de rigueur.
I've given it serious thought. I must scorn the ways of my family, and seek a Japanese woman to yield me my progeny. He shall live in the lands of the east, and be well tutored in his sacred trust to weave the best traditions of Japan and the Sacred South together, until such time as he (or, indeed his house, which will periodically require infusion of both Southern and Japanese bloodlines of note) can deliver to the South it's independence, either in this world or in space.  -Lettow April of 2011

Raz is right. -MadImmortalMan March of 2017