Language Ruling

From the Globe and Mail:
"Judge sides with retailers in feud with Quebec government over French signs"

  A judge has ruled that major retailers do not have to modify their commercial names to French to continue operating in Quebec. A Quebec Superior Court justice says businesses that have storefront signs with their trademark name in a language other than French do not contravene the French Language Charter.  Several retailers took the province’s language watchdog to court after they were told to change their names or risk losing the right to do business in the province. The Office québécois de la langue francaise wanted the companies to change their signs to either give themselves a generic French name or add a slogan or explanation that reflected what they sold. The businesses included Best Buy, Costco, Gap, Old Navy, Guess, Walmart, Toys ‘R’ Us and Curves.

Language watchdog Jean-Pierre Le Blanc says it’ll be up to the attorney-general’s office to decide whether to appeal Wednesday’s ruling.

^ I remember sitting in French class watching a tape about the "language Nazis" that were running The Quebec Office of the French Language and harassing innocent people. I am French Canadian and thought the Province was going from one extreme to the other. For centuries French-speakers in Canada (including Quebec) were openly discriminated against for using French. It wasn't until the 1960s-1970s that the use of French became protected throughout the country. In the 1990s Quebec decided to turn against the English-speakers in their province and create strict language laws forcing French to be the dominant language on all signs. I can understand the Quebecois wanting to promote the French language in their province. What I can't understand is the extreme measures they have taken. Forcing brand-name, international companies to change their names to more French-sounding ones is just plain stupid. Even in Russia these companies aren't required to make their signs in the Cyrillic alphabet (although some like McDonald's but their brand-name up in both the Latin and Cyrillic alphabets - but they aren't forced to.) Canada is supposedly bilingual, but in reality they aren't. Only the Federal Government has to provide services in both English and French throughout the country (and the world at their embassies and high commissions.) The rest of the country either uses strictly English or strictly French. Canada should follow the lead of Luxembourg. Schools there teach some years in Luxembourgish, some in German and some in French (on top of taking English as a foreign language.) In everyday usage the people of Luxembourg will use whatever language (Luxembourgish, German, French or English) that they are spoken in. There doesn't seem to be the same animosity as in Canada or Belgium. It would be nice if Canada could get to that point: where a person knows both French and English fluent enough to respond to one person in French and the next in English without the feeling of disgust that currently prevails. ^

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/judge-sides-with-retailers-in-feud-with-quebec-government-over-french-signs/article17915406/