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Old Sep 23, 2004 | 10:46 am
  #80  
californiadreamin'
20 Years on Site
 
Join Date: Mar 2003
Location: USA
Posts: 1,292
Well, I live in a huge multi-ethnic state, and I don't think anyone doubts that a country's heritage and past still prevails over simple percentages. Otherwise we would lose English as the principal language in a short time.
Posted signs in french in Quebec? I would expect as such.
Posted signs in chinese in Richmond, BC? No problem.
Official languages? Well, the US doesn't have an oficial language, though English is the principal language. According to the web, Quebec is not bilingual; neither is British Columbia. I do note with interest only New Brunswick is posted as bilingual, but I would imagine Ontario, the most populous province, or at least Ottawa should be.
I think there's a difference between "official" and "practical":
Some jurisdictions may be visibly or legally unilingual, yet multilingual in practice; others may show themselves to be multilingual (e.g., signage), yet practical use of languages is limited to the principal language.
I love reading postings about language in Canada.. biases are so transparent!
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