Metaglossia: The Translation World

One of the odd stories to come out of the French-speaking province of Quebec last year was the announcement that intensive English courses would be offered to students in state schools. Odd, because in the past half-century, much of the Quebecois identity has been built on resisting English. Last autumn, the Montreal newspaper La Presse revealed that two real estate executives had made presentations in English to a Montreal-based pension fund, violating the province’s language laws, which give workers the right to a French-speaking environment.

Quand la France a instauré un quota de 40 % de chansons francophones à la radio dans les années 1990, cela avait fait bien rire à Washington et à Londres.