French Canadian !

[BrittanyMontreal]

Salut.
Si quelqu'un peut m'expliquer pourquoi un site canadien n'a pas de version francophone ?!
Même si nous sommes minoritaires, n'avons-nous pas droit à une version française des règlements et modalités ?
J'essaie de comprendre, j'ai demandé par plusieurs reprises mais je n'ai jamais eu de réponse
Lorsque je m'exprime en français, ça prend 3 fois plus de temps avant d'avoir du service, c'est très frustrant surtout lorsqu'on paie pour ce service
Si quelqu'un aurait l'amabilité de m'expliquer pourquoi ou comment faire pour avoir les règlements et modalités en français, je vous serais très reconnaissante puisqu'on ne me répond pas lorsque je le demande en privé.
Ce serait tellement plus simple s'il y avait les 2 versions mais après plusieurs fois suggérés je n'ai jamais eu de réponses.
C'est frustrant de se sentir comme un Fucking French Canadien the Frog qui n'avons pas notre place sur ces sites canadiens uniquement anglophones. Disons en tout cas que ce n'est pas très accueillant.
Je ne sais pas combien de temps ce message tiendra en ligne mais SVP si quelqu'un peut enfin prendre le temps de m'expliquer en privé, ce serait grandement appréciée.
Merci.
Brittany xxx...

 

[2fast2slow]

salut Brittany,

je comprends ta frustration. Par contre les sites du R.O.C ne sont aucunement obligés de faire une version française de leurs pages. Il y a t-il un site en particulier qui à soulever ton ire?

 

[anon_vlad]

Si c'est un site Web québécois, la loi 101 exige une version francaise. Fais une plainte à l'office de la langue française.

Si de ROC, il n'ont aucune obligation. Évidemment, il existe des sites en français qui n'ont pas une version anglaise. (même si le Canada est majoritairement anglophone. lol)

Si un site web utilise seulement une langue, ils perderont quelques clients de l'autre groupe linguistique. Tant pis pour eux.

 

[BigBrowser]

Je pense que Brittany parle de merb !
À mon avis, les gens qui gèrent le site ne sont ni dans une région francophone, ni francophones.
Il faut croire que maintenir un site en deux langues, c'est des frais et des complications.
Ce que je peux comprendre d'un point de vue marketing et financier.
En revanche, ce que je ne comprends pas et ce que je trouve parfaitement inacceptable, c'est que personne ne t'ai répondu, Brittany. J'espère que ce thread te permettra d'obtenir des réponses, et peut être même des avancées !
On se croise les doigts.

 

[gugu]

On se calme le pompon svp. Merb est un site privé qui est géré ailleurs qu'au Québec. Les règlements ont été traduits. C'est moi qui les ai traduits et ils se trouvent dans le lounge de la section Québec. Au lieu de chialer après du monde qui ne vous doivent rien parce qu'ils ne vous demandent rien, mettez un peu la main à la pâte. Je suis sur merb depuis plus de 10 ans et je n'ai pas vu une seule fois des administrateurs ou des modérateurs se comporter de façon injuste envers des membres francophones ou la langue française. Tu peux écrire dans la langue que tu veux n'importe où. La seule chose que tu ne peux pas faire, c'est de forcer des gens qui ne parlent pas français à te lire ou à te comprendre. Ça fait une éternité qu'il n'y a pas eu de débat stérile sur la langue sur merb. Les membres francophones sont respectés de tout le monde ici et ce respect est sincère. Ce respect n'a pas été gagné par la force ou les déclarations comme le titre de ce statut. Il existe précisément pour la raison contraire, en respectant les anglophones parmi lesquels plusieurs sont canadiens anglais ou américains. Tu essaies de partir une guerre. La plupart des francophones ne te suivront pas.

 

[Hydargoos]

Je ne suis pas sûr qu'il parle de merb mais des sites canadiens gouvernementaux. Car il a dit:"on paie pour ce service". Or, on ne paie pas sûr ce site sauf si on veut bien le faire.

Il faudrait préciser de quel site il parle. Car seuls les sites officiels du fédéral sont soumis aux langues officielles. Sinon, C'est le municipal ou provincial qui prévaut, selon le cas. Mais il est vrai que la loi sur les langues officielles n'est pas toujours respectée.

 

[Bred Sob]

Si quelqu'un peut m'expliquer pourquoi un site canadien n'a pas de version francophone ?!

No disrespect, but I think the answer is not too hard to come by. Could it be that the site creators assume that Canadians (of all people!) who are smart enough to switch on a computer and get on the web, should be capable to get sufficient English comprehension? Love it or hate it, the hard truth is that in today's world people who don't understand English are essentially illiterate.

Speaking as someone who had to learn English as a second language, I have always been jealous of people growing up in Quebec. They have an excellent chance to become perfectly bilingual -- and so many indeed do.

 

[Halloween Mike]

J'avoue que le coté "anglais" omnipresent m'a toujours troublé. Apres tout c'est bien le board de Montreal... une ville du QUEBEC, une province FRANCOPHONE? Mais pourtant il semblerais que les "clients", et je m'inclus, semble toujours porté a posté en Anglais pour rejoindre tout le monde. La preuve hiers j'ai posté un video assez interessant qui parle des bar a gaffe, des escortes/danseuses dans ces clubs. Un sujet qui rejoint les gens ici et pourtant... 0 réponses. Mais si cette emission aurais été en anglais, je suis sur que sa aurais été different.

Le truc est que oui beaucoup de membres sont americain (et vienne au Quebec... dans les 2 senses...) ou encore Canadien anglo d'une autre provinces mais encore certain sont même Quebecois et pourtant sont anglophone. Mais la realité ces que BEAUCOUP de membre sont franco et pourtant choisisse de s'exprimer en anglais pour rejoindre "tout le monde". Je l'ai vu entre autre dans les party, la majorité s'adressais a moi en francais. La majorité des escortes sont francophones aussi.

Bref je suis d'accord avec Brittany que sa serais la moindre des choses que qqu parmis la team merb sois capable de s'exprimer en francais pour repondre au question des advertisers. Car par exemple je considere mon anglais assez bien, et pourtant une fois j'ai refusé de regler un truc au telephone avec un telephoniste anglophone car sa incluais un coté officiel/monetaire , et je voulais etre sur que je comprennais TOUT a 100% et j'ai donc demandé un telephoniste francophone.

Je me met a la place de certaine indy qui peut-etre ne parle pas anglais trop bien... ces pas genial quand vien le temps de payer leur annonces.

Could it be that the site creators assume that Canadians (of all people!) who are smart enough to switch on a computer and get on the web, should be capable to get sufficient English comprehension? Love it or hate it, the hard truth is that in today's world people who don't understand English are essentially illiterate.

That is so far from the truth. I only learn english because i was fortunate enough to meet a girl in online games that was bilingual and she played with a lot of friends from the states. Both her and her friends helped me a lot with my english, also video games in general helped me too, as even before i met the girl in question i was looking for strategies online and most of it especially back then was in english. Games where also not translated in french like today and when the N64 droped with more story driven game, we tried to understand. Trust me it was not easy to know exactly all the objectives in Goldeneye lol

But the fact is in Quebec you can fully function in just French. Where i live there is not much anglos, my town is 99.99% franco, and almost everybody in the nearest "big town" is your typical Quebec born french speaker. Montreal is a different story but im sure you can still function easily just in French.

As i keep repeating often the ONLY OFFICIAL LANGUAGE in Quebec is french. Thats my teacher of history that told me that couple years ago. And it take priority over the dual official languages of Canada. Think its because of law 101 or something like that but anyway... Bottom line NOUS SOMMES UNE PROVINCE FRANCOPHONE. And not knowing english does not make a person an idiot... wich is pretty much what you say in a more "polite" way.

 

[sugarbear1966]

Love it or hate it, the hard truth is that in today's world people who don't understand English are essentially illiterate.QUOTE]

Illiterate is defined as an inability to read or write. It has nothing to do with what language you are able to communicate in. If it is your contention that English is the main language of the world...there are many unilingual speaking Spanish, Indian, Chinese, Greek, Italian, etc, who would strongly disagree. The more languages we speak, better is our ability to communicate. I am born and raised in Quebec and am proficient in four languages. To imply that someone who is unable to communicate in English is "essentially illiterate", I find to be a harsh and incorrect statement.

I believe Brittany is simply blowing off some steam. She expresses herself quite well and is certainly not "illiterate". I think she should reconsider the thread title , as it seems to suggest a direct lack of respect from MERB towards francophone users. Gugu has eloquently replied to this and his point is well taken.

 

[Bred Sob]

But the fact is in Quebec you can fully function in just French.

I am sure you can. And I am also sure that you can function while not knowing any human language at all. Just walk into a depanneur, point to a loaf of bread and a sixpack, and you are basically in business.

However, if you decide one day to venture outside of your francophone town, how easy would it be to get by without English? If, say, you work in science or technology and attend a conference anywhere in the world, what would be the lingua franca there?

I never said that not knowing English makes one an idiot. This is a classic straw man. But it does limit your universe dramatically, n'est-ce pas?

 

[Julia Sky]

Just walk into a depanneur, point to a loaf of bread and a sixpack, and you are basically in business.

Well if you think one needs to point or ask for bread instead of using their hands and take it you shouldn't be allowed to call anyone stupid lolol

I never said that not knowing English makes one an idiot.

Illiterate is not exactly nice or polite either. It's like saying "Anyone who eats KFC more that once a year is essentially an unhealthy, out of shape pig" And get away with "I didn't call anyone fat lol" life doesn't work like that. You don't get to call people illiterate because they can't speak English..

 

[jalimon]

I am sure you can. And I am also sure that you can function while not knowing any human language at all. Just walk into a depanneur, point to a loaf of bread and a sixpack, and you are basically in business.

However, if you decide one day to venture outside of your francophone town, how easy would it be to get by without English? If, say, you work in science or technology and attend a conference anywhere in the world, what would be the lingua franca there?

I never said that not knowing English makes one an idiot. This is a classic straw man. But it does limit your universe dramatically, n'est-ce pas?

I know many sp that do not speak english, but men they do french kiss very well! Joke aside I agree with you.

Just last week I did a web conference with people from 5 different countries. No one had English as a first language. Guess what language we all spoke during the conference? All with our strong accent (on that topic can someone tell why on earth the Frenchman put a z for every word with th ? Ze price is very good, zank you! haha)

It is not a matter of being just an 8 millions population surrounded by 370 other English speaking, it is a matter of having one worldwide language as a reference, and it turn to be English. Why, probably because it's the easiest language to learn?

Cheers,

 

[BigBrowser]

We can all agree, I'm sure, that speaking English nowadays is very useful and even essential in some situations.
But that doesn't really answer Brittany's post.
English being the reference language in the world doesn't mean we should get rid of all the others or put them aside.
Language is an important part of a culture - a cornerstone even, quite often.
Yes, English is very useful. Yes, there is no legal obligation for site managers to have everything translated. But they should at least appreciate that they have French speaking users and treat them the same way they treat others.
Not replying to Brittany is showing very little respect, I find.
And I can understand and relate to her frustration.

 

[Gobroncosgo]

If you want to just live in Quebec then sure English isn't by itself necessary. But if you plan on ever going to the world outside Quebec's birders as Sam21 pointed out it's essential.

 

[Julia Sky]

(on that topic can someone tell why on earth the Frenchman put a z for every word with th ? Ze price is very good, zank you! haha)

I want an answer too. My best friend is French (Well, from corsica), he speaks English very well and even he doesn't get why everyone around him (He lives in Corsica not here) pronounces "Ze" hahah

 

[Cruiser777]

On se calme le pompon svp...

Gugu

Bon post et explication.

Speaking as someone who had to learn English as a second language, I have always been jealous
of people growing up in Quebec. They have an excellent chance to become perfectly bilingual --
and so many indeed do.

Unfortunately its little complicated then that in Quebec as Quebec government laws do not allow francophones to
learn english in the schools. (This could be touchy subject or discussion in itself) as the froancophones don't have the same
"Right" or "Freedom" of an anglophone or an alophone in Quebec. Where most of minority group can attend any schools
they want to but francophones are allowed to go only to french schools. In Quebec, some of the minority
group kids are already tringlingual while in elementary school.

IMHO, Its not nice or justified to call or label anybody any names as its not their fault to be unilingual.
(I am saying this as a general term, nothing pointed directly at you).

I know many sp that do not speak english, but men they do french kiss very well!

How true...

Yes met so many ladies who spoke french only and when I greeted them in french they went
("Ohhh, tu parle en francais" ??? Oufff.)
it was like a big deal since all the previous session were going in English only, they were relieved and the session
were very very good.

BUT GIVEN THE CHANCE, THE FREEDOM AND THE OPPORTUNITY.

Some of these girls who spoke french only now are perfectly bilingual talk and text in english like
you would never know they were unilingual just a short time ago.

Also, sometimes I wander if the non french speaking clients do any effort to learn some french especially
the ones who are regulars visiting Montreal ???

 

[Halloween Mike]

Well travelling whatever it be for your job or pleasure is one personal choice. I think if you go to Russia you should pick basic notion of Russian to communicate. If you go to Japan, you should also be able to speak some form of Japanese. I am not saying english won't help you cause it will, and yes its a language so simple that its easy to learn for pretty much everybody. BUT i think its a form of respect to speak the language of the hosting country you visit. In any case i think there is a big difference between visiting for x reasons and the situation here. The thread was about this website wich is about the MONTREAL SP world.

When it comes to "Ze" i think its because french from France can't pronounce the TH sound. I guess its a matter of accent and how they see it. Honestly everytime i hear a french(france) person talk about Street Fighter and call it "Strit Fightaire" it make me cringe so bad. In any case my TH pronounciation is not ideal either but i just use the T sound anyway, i really do not understand how they can relate TH with Ze ...

About that comment

Yes met so many ladies who spoke french only and when I greeted them in french they went
("Ohhh, tu parle en francais" ??? Oufff.)
it was like a big deal since all the previous session were going in English only, they were relieved and the session
were very very good.

Yeah this happen to me from time to time. I do understand them. I find it much easier as well to communicate in french when i see SPs. I am already nervous and shy, so having to express myself in a second language make it even harder. I know its paid fun and i don't need to "impress" them or whatever, its not like im trying to flirt in a bar, BUT even after these years i still get "intimidated" sometimes , usually when the SP is not a "natural bubbly type" girl, as more reserved and such. I prefer MUCH MUCH more when she is able to speak french.

Also i find it very funny that a thread in french pointing that french is underused here has turned into english thread once again... and i am again guilty of it as well...

 

[EagerBeaver]

Gugu is correct. MERB is based in Toronto and always has been. Bill 101 does not apply, end of story. If you go into USA or the rest of Canada it's all English speaking so basically it is what it is. Quebec is surrounded by English speaking lands, this is a basic geographical fact. If you use a Toronto based board you are required to abide the rules of that board whose founder was an English speaking person operating a business in an English speaking province. Similarly if you can't find a Toronto restaurant that has a French menu, you can keep trying or find one elsewhere.

Also those who want a French speaking board based in Montreal are free to start one. However given the amount of tourist traffic on this board, they are not very likely to pull away those clients.

 

[Halloween Mike]

Gugu is correct. MERB is based in Toronto and always has been. Bill 101 does not apply, end of story. If you go into USA or the rest of Canada it's all English speaking so basically it is what it is. Quebec is surrounded by English speaking lands, this is a basic geographical fact.

So is France? I don't think geographical situation of countries/provinces outside should matter. And even if based in Toronto, it still cather to the peoples of Quebec (mostly). They could have a dedicated guy who could answer in french when needed and he could be paid "by the shot" or something like that... I mean when you check that even compagnies like Microsoft have dedicated french employees ... granted they are usually not "that good" in French and speak with weird accent often, but at least they speak it lol

 

[EagerBeaver]

I mean when you check that even compagnies like Microsoft have dedicated french employees ... granted they are usually not "that good" in French and speak with weird accent often, but at least they speak it lol

Microsoft's "dedicated French employees" are computer science majors and engineers, probably recent college grads who took a few French classes in high school and barely passed. They are science nerds but language flunkees whose French sucks monkey balls. If they spoke French well, then they would be making more money as deposition and court translators than they are being paid lower wages by Microsoft for entry level customer service technician services. They make the same as the English reps, which is next to nothing.