Cornwall letter to the editor, July 6, 2024

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Essential, but not a burden

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Yet again a French-language debacle can be seen underway in Québec.

The entire social structure in this province rests on the altar of language. Progress is held to ransom for the sake of the French language; Québec universities are under severe pressure and education, at all levels, is endangered.

The purpose of languages ​​is to communicate – possibly the pinnacle of most human needs. Since the world’s been shrinking at a remarkable speed, we need to communicate in a universal manner. Communicating universally might, ultimately, be the key to peace on Earth.

The world can only profit from having a single common language since dialogue has the potential to head off war – one of the most senseless, destructive actions perpetuated by mankind.

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Contextually, the French language might be considered through the lens of the ruling political party in Québec. The prime minister has suggested immigration would water down the French language, so he could not support the federal concept of prioritizing immigration. Where does the prime minister, in rejecting the concept of immigration, expect to get a future workforce?

Maintaining a sustainable population has always been accomplished through the birth rate. Since 2009 in Québec, there’s been a distinct downward trend leading to the current birthrate of 1.73 children per mother. When this is measured against the estimated birthrate of 2.1 needed to sustain a population, Québec is doomed to cause its diminishing workforce to pay ever higher taxes to support the growing number of elderly citizens.

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Current birthrate figures for the province do not support a stable future population, adding another route to French-language decline. Failure to accept this reality transcends the entire political hierarchy.

What is the reality? Without any intent to be hurtful it must be accepted the French language isn’t sustainable as an international means of communication— it’s a language to be preserved. France has fought, and failed, to have its language adopted as the common language, even expecting it of the European Union in recent times.

Typically, when two people cannot converse in their native tongue, they invariably resort to communicating in a readily available common language—this tends to be English.

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For many years linguists labored to create a new world language, the closest was Esperanto yet it failed to gain traction.

Across the globe air-traffic controllers are expected to communicate in English, the common international language, so instructions might be uniformly relayed to pilots of monster aircraft carrying large numbers of passengers. The European Union has decreed that all continental train drivers across its member nations must have command of a single language, English.

Those denying the truth, seeking the holy grail of a dying language are cruelly using language to divide people. This must be seen as a massive misuse of political power.

Sadly, in Canada, because the French language is given prominence, it imposes costs because of the requirement to print documents and labels on food packaging in two languages. These kinds of requirements should be eliminated.

A single common language has immense value, providing a stable, functioning way to communicate.

Having written all that, it is essential to keep all languages ​​alive without unreasonably placing a burden on others.

John E. Milnes

Cornwall

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