Census: One in three Vancouverites speak languages other than English, French at home

[Rerun]

Originally Posted by HELPNEEDED

Being a native English speaker, you sure know the difference between singular and plural subjects.

Albeit, I'm not one to give e-grammer advice, since I generally don't care.

The error was due to a change in the sentence. Originally I wrote "Vancouver has become a very ethnically diverse city..." and then I changed it to "Vancouver and it's suburbs" but I forgot to change "has" to "have".

After I posted it I saw my error, but I decided to just leave it as is, as I figured nobody on here would be anal enough to point it out.

[HELPNEEDED]

Originally Posted by Rerun

The error was due to a change in the sentence. Originally I wrote "Vancouver has become a very ethnically diverse city..." and then I changed it to "Vancouver and it's suburbs" but I forgot to change "has" to "have".

After I posted it I saw my error, but I decided to just leave it as is, as I figured nobody on here would be anal enough to point it out.

The discussion is specific to language; it was tough not to point it out.

[Hemi-Cuda]

Originally Posted by FlamesAddiction

Even that is changing. Back when I was fresh out of university, I was job hunting in Vancouver and there was one company that was hiring that I thought was perfect, but when I enquired, they said that I would have to know Korean because that was the language spoken at the office (it was a small firm owned by a Korean family).

wouldn't that fall under discrimination laws? i'm pretty sure it's against the law to force your employees to speak a non-official language unless the job requirements call for it

[Rerun]

Originally Posted by HELPNEEDED

The discussion is specific to language; it was tough not to point it out.

And I explained exactly how it happened. It wasn't an error in grammar due to ignorance. If that's not good enough for you.. too bad.

[FlamesAddiction]

Originally Posted by Hemi-Cuda

wouldn't that fall under discrimination laws? i'm pretty sure it's against the law to force your employees to speak a non-official language unless the job requirements call for it

I thought so too, and I was pretty annoyed. Someone told me that if the comany is small enough, there are exceptions. I don't know if that is true or not.

[The Yen Man]

When I have kids, I will make it a point to teach my kids Chinese at home. They all eventually learn English when they start school. Whether they like it or not, English will become their predominant language. Why is it a bad thing that they have another language in their backpocket to use if needed?

[chemgear]

Originally Posted by The Yen Man

Why is it a bad thing that they have another language in their backpocket to use if needed?

Xenophobia.

[Coach]

Im surprised its not higher honestly. I would have thought it would be over half.

[HelloHockeyFans]

I was born and raised in Canada from immigrant Chinese parents and when I was growing up, I actually went through a phase where I refused to speak Chinese at home to my parents. They forced me to speak Chinese at home to them by ignoring me otherwise, which has benefited me hugely in life.

Makes a lot of sense to me looking back actually - there was ZERO chance I wouldn't pick up English fine being brought up through Canadian schools. But now, I have the ability to speak Chinese fluently (without the awkward 'White Guy Accent' most CBCs have) unlike a vast majority of other Asian-Canadians similar to me who are 2nd generation Chinese-Canadians.

The fact that immigrants can do everything they need to without speaking a lick of English in places like Richmond is a little concerning to me, but that's very different in my opinion from the dominant language used in the homes of immigrant families.

[HELPNEEDED]

Originally Posted by The Yen Man

When I have kids, I will make it a point to teach my kids Chinese at home. They all eventually learn English when they start school. Whether they like it or not, English will become their predominant language. Why is it a bad thing that they have another language in their backpocket to use if needed?

I feel the exact same way: I was born to Punjabi parents and somehow before hitting KG I was fluent,relativley for a 4year old, in both languages. Children will learn English, in Western Canada, and be native English speakers by default. I would even go so far to say that schools should be french-ized to some degree.