I truly don’t understand the desperate need to protect the language
My grandfather came from Europe in 1925 speaking only french. My dad remembers his first day of school and only understanding french in an English elementary school . Im not sure when grandma learned English but she was fully bilingual
Growing up my dad’s family would generally speak English but when things got heated it would switch to French
My brother and i only spoke English. Never heard my family comment on it.
Maybe someone can help me understand. If my family had to move to china for example, id fully expect that within 3 generations my ancestors would speak only Chinese, and the only reason to retain English would be for global communication
I guess my question is why is there a need or desire to intervene with the natural evolution of language in Quebec. To “protect “ the language.
It's a fair question. It's mostly rooted in the history of the province of Quebec and of Canada though.
Part of it is the illusion of choice. The French people of Quebec never
chose to be invaded and assimilated unlike in your example when a single family decides to emigrate to a country that speaks a different language.
Part of it is probably some sort of cultural resistance. The culture of Quebec is distinct from the culture in the rest of Canada and the US in many ways. Heck, these differences are rooted in public institutions like the judicial system. Abandoning French and going full English would probably feel like defeat to many and would likely be the death of a culture - or at least a core element of it.
Part of it is also just... Quebec's only official language is French. A large portion of the population speaks only French, and an even larger portion of the population lists French as its first language. It should just be expected that French is important to the region and its population. It should be expected that anyone working with the public should speak French at least conversationally - like you'd expect with English in the rest of Canada or the US.
Does the government uses the best politics to "protect" the language? Questionable. "Promoting" the language would probably have better results, but that's just my opinion.
Not entirely sure how it related to the list of Quebecois in the first post of the thread, because hockey declining in Quebec is a "greed" issue, not a language one. But yeah, for those who question why Quebecois are so protective of the language, I think it all boils down to history.