Wonder if any of you can shed any more light on a TV special I saw here in Tokyo yesterday.
It seems Richmond has a population of approx. 190,000 and 47% are Chinese (most from the mainland). There seems to be some problem as all the store signs are now in Chinese, many people do not speak English and evidently do not seem inclined to learn. Now they are teaching Chinese in the local school so that at least the Canadian children can communicate...
Apparently a group was formed to require all road signs, store signs, etc. to be in English but the city council (or whatever it is called in Richmond, BC,) is having some trouble trying to decide on this. At the end of this special the commentator said it is not only Richmond that is in this condition; "many" towns across Canada are in this situation.
Something seems wrong here to me... I know that the US had their areas of only German speaking people, only Norwegian speaking people, etc. with the churches and homes using the "native" language. But all were required to use English in school (at that time; I understand this is no longer the case in some areas of the US). Eventually all blended together and formed a solid country. This does not seem to be the case in this special and I was wondering if any Canadian members (or not Canadian) could give me any more light on this.
At the risk of not being PC, I know it seems to be difficult for Chinese to leave their customs, language, etc., behind and adopt new ones. Probably because of their long history....
I don't know about this town in particular. But in Indiana, where we lived, there was a public elementary school in the city that held classes in Spanish. Parents of English speakers were furious. They did it because the school was majority Mexican and the kids were falling behind to grade level when the classes were in English. Now that the classes are in Spanish, the minority English speakers are behind, but it's fewer kids so it's "ok". Ridiculous. I know several people who had to move to get into a school district where their child would be taught in English.
Sorry for the drift off topic. But it is a similar situation and I thought I would share.
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Thanks for that insight. You are saying just what I thought might happen. But to teach the Canadian kids Chinese so they can keep their grades up, etc. What am I missing here?
Thanks for that insight. You are saying just what I thought might happen. But to teach the Canadian kids Chinese so they can keep their grades up, etc. What am I missing here?
Karl, I don't know the answer to your question. I think it may have to do with helping the kids to fit in and hoping those language lessons will translate to the parents.
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It looks like Richmond, B.C. is a neighborhood in Vancouver, and has a "Chinatown" section, just like in Manhattan, San Francisco, and other large cities.
Google brings up a lot of sites for tourism in the Chinatown section, just like in the other cities.
In Manhattan (New York City) the Chinatown neighborhood does have a LOT of signs in Chinese (I don't know which dialect), and a lot of signs in Chinese and English.
Forcing American-English speaking children to go to classes that are taught in Chinese? I seriously doubt it. The kids who grow up in homes with adults who only speak Chinese, see3m to work very diligently to be bilingual, so they can fit into American society. Why would it be different in Canada?
I think the news article you watched contained a lot of nonsense.
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I don't know about Canada, but the US doesn't have an official language. Unless that has changed and I hadn't heard.
I have no problem with other languages being used. My problem is when any one language becomes troublesome for the rest.
Example, when my kids were in elementary school, the class had language time. Basically they taught the Spanish speakers English.
Fine.
But the whole class, English speakers included, had to do the lessons.
This was things like saying "cup" or counting or colors. What 98% of the class learned as babies and growing up with.
I didn't think that was right. I don't know why they didn't cross teach both languages.
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Yes, Richmond is a city adjacent to Vancouver. It is largely populated by asians of many descents, but many of them are Chinese. Yes, Vancouver has a Chinatown neighbourhood, but this is not about that. That is like saying that Oakland is San Francisco's Chinatown. Here is it point-by-point;
1. Canada has two official languages; English & French. It is law that all signs be written in the dominant language and any federal marketing or information must be in both.
2. Areas of Richmond that are frequented mainly by the Chinese population have begun putting up signs in Chinese only. No English or French. This is a violation of the law that has been ignored for a while now.
3. There is a group of people lobbying for these signs to be changed to have English on them as well because of the law, but also because it just seems exclusionary to tourists and locals who do not speak Chinese.
4. Yes, Chinese (usually Mandarin) is taught in schools here. Along with French, Spanish, Italian, Japanese and a host of other languages. They are not teaching Chinese so that English speaking people can read Chinese signs. There are also plenty of English signs.
So yes, Karl - your impressions are correct; this whole situation is weird. Let me know if you have more questions!
Thank you for clearing that up, Tignanello. I wonder what the outcome will be. I see the TV story was about 90% correct. I can certainly understand the concerns of the Canadian citizens of Richmond. If you are just a bit paranoid, you can foresee the Chinese population taking over the whole city....
