Football/ Canadian Language

The thing about football is that it brings people from all over the world together. People speak different languages all over the world, yet when people watch football there is a common language understood by all. A bad referring decision requires no language, it is understood and reacted the same way. But the problem arises when a language in the context of outside football becomes isolated and not understood. In Canada, the second official language is French, but studies show that few people speak French in Canada besides Quebec and some French communities. This comes as no surprise to other people living outside Quebec, but it does come as a surprise to the inhabitants of the French speaking areas. One fifth of the Canadian population does not speak either French or English as a first language. French speakers represent 1/4 of the Canadian population, while Chinese speakers represent 3.3 percent of the population. In the census, it showed that nine out of ten Canadians speak either English or French in their homes. 67.7 percent of the country spoke English, while 1/5 spoke French, leaving 11.9 percent speaking an non-official language at home. This is a serious trend for the French speaking part of Canada. Because slowly but surely, because of immigration they are loosing their language. This might be part of the reason why the French speakers tried to break away from Canada, and still do, but although that will happen, it is sad to see a people become isolated in their own country. Schools do require that everyone learn French, but that is the thing, it is only enforced in schools. They do not speak French, but merely study it. Thus, the language is irrelevant in the English parts of the country, while English is relevant and useful in the French portion of the country. Well, we shall see over time what interesting changes and events happen to change this trend or continue it.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20071205.CENSUSLANGUAGE05/TPStory/National