The anglicization of the world is here

MONTREAL—I won a trip to Europe in 1970, and in June of that year, my brother and I travelled across England and the continent. When I returned two months later, I expressed satisfaction I had seen Europe before it became “Americanized.” Each European country had its own currency, language, traditions, customs, and commercial enterprises, but it was evident travel, trade, and entertainment from the United States would soon bring change. What I didn’t foresee at the time was while Americanization in business meant the dominance of McDonald’s, Coca-Cola, and other U.S. brands, what has really happened is the “anglicization” of the world. This point came through last week while in Europe. In Geneva, Switzerland, signs were in French and English. In Porto, Portugal, almost every sign was in Portuguese and English. And not just tourist information: street signs, advertising, and train schedules. When my wife and I decided to take a walking tour of Porto, our guide was from the Azores, a Portuguese dependency, but spoke fluent English. Of the 20 people who took the tour, there were only four native English speakers. The others were from Hong Kong, Germany, France, Croatia, Brazil, South Africa, and Israel. One night, we went to a restaurant to listen to fado, the sorrowful Portuguese singing tradition. The hostess explained fado in Portuguese, Spanish, English, and French. All our guides in a wine tour of the Douro Valley region spoke English. Wherever we went, virtually everyone spoke English as a second language. The spread of English as the international language is not a recent phenomenon; despite Brexit, English continues to have a presence in the European Union. The importance of the United States, and the presence of 65 million anglophones off the coast is one reason for the dominance of English in the EU. But there are other, more practical reasons: first of all, English is easy to learn. It has no genders and few complex tenses in its basic form. Someone with a thousand-word vocabulary and an understanding of the present and past tenses can function in English. Few other languages can boast that capacity. Far more sophisticated analysts than I would attribute the growth of the language to the recent cultural colonialization of the world by American culture and business, or harken back to the British Empire in the 19th and 20th centuries. But I think it comes down to practicality. While Esperanto, a mix of Romance languages, was once promoted as the way to connect everyone to a common language, it never caught on. English, which emerged as a fusion of French and Anglo-Saxon after the French invasion of England in 1066, has easily integrated thousands of words from dozens of languages. Which brings us to our own national linguistic conundrum. March 20 was the international day of La Francophonie, a day to celebrate French in Canada and abroad. The good news is French is growing around the world. But while francophone Africa alone is projected to hit 250 million of the total projected 800 million French-speakers in 2050, French will never surpass the influence of English. In Quebec, the struggle against English has led to Bill 96, which declares the province a French-speaking “nation.” Legal documents, contracts, communication with the Quebec government—all must be done only in French. If you are a recent immigrant from India or Ireland, Hong Kong or Kathmandu, you will have six months to learn French, and then you will cease to be served by Quebec in what could be your mother tongue. At the same time, the Trudeau government is integrating the Charter of the French Language into Bill C-13, which means Quebec anglophones will have their rights to jobs or services circumscribed. For someone who works and lives in French as I do, this is not a problem. But for many Quebec anglophones and foreign businesses, it will be. Rather than embracing the facility Montrealers have in English as an asset to business, Quebec nationalists’ hatred for everything English blinds them to a global trend. Quebec Premier François Legault is the new King Canute, demanding the tide of English stop rolling in from the outside. Instead, it will continue to rise, and trying to erase it makes Quebec and Canada look like irrational outliers. Andrew Caddell is retired from Global Affairs Canada, where he was a senior policy adviser. He previously worked as an adviser to Liberal governments. He is a town councillor in Kamouraska, Que. He can be reached at pipson52@hotmail.com. The Hill Times

The anglicization of the world is here

Rather than embracing the facility Montrealers have in English as an asset to business, Quebec nationalists’ hatred for everything English blinds them to a global trend.

Canada’s aging crisis and a call for reform in eldercare

As COP29 wraps up, will Canada finally stop funding fossils this fall?

Addressing the threat of antimicrobial resistance

The wisdom of Homer Simpson and Aaron Sorkin

Climate finance should target resilient food systems

Trump’s ‘America First’ plans may undermine global trade

French media bias hurts Quebec’s democracy

It is open season on Quebec’s anglophones

Only in Quebec would ‘English Week’ be controversial

StatsCan isn’t doing Quebec’s anglophones any favours

Canada as we know it will soon cease to exist

News

Get free news updates

Opinion

Submit a guest opinion article

resources

Advertise

subscribe

get help

Get free news updates

Submit a guest opinion article

The anglicization of the world is here

Rather than embracing the facility Montrealers have in English as an asset to business, Quebec nationalists’ hatred for everything English blinds them to a global trend.

Get The Weekend Point of View Newsletter