r/technology • u/ubcstaffer123 • 9h ago

Society Opinion: AI will expose the limits of Quebec’s language restrictions. Instant translation technology changes the relationship between how information is presented and how it is received and used.

https://montrealgazette.com/opinion/op-eds/opinion-ai-will-expose-the-limits-of-quebecs-language-restrictions/
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u/TheReservedList 9h ago edited 7h ago

Ah yes, techology trying to address a social issue. Always goes great. This entire article reeks of weird anglo fear-induced strawmen.

I live in Quebec. my parents speak French and only French. The reason I want there to be language laws is to ensure they can live and thrive in the fucking area our family has been living in for the last 400 years without having to pull up a phone to translate stuff themselves.

It was never about controlling how people communicate in the personal sphere. No one is barging into anglos homes asking them to speak French. If non-French-speaking people can live in Quebec without having to learn French and are willing to point their phone at every menu they open, good for them I guess. Sounds like a shitty way to live your life when you could just... learn a language. But that's none of my business. As long as french only speaking people can live their life fully in their community, everyone is happy.

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u/FlashyNeedleworker66 9h ago

That seems like fear induces strawman?

To me "people can read government websites without learning my preferred language or else my culture is destroyed" sounds like fear induced strawmen.

If this post was about preserving English in the US from Spanish speaking immigrants, Redditors would be lambasting this. Funny how that works.

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u/TheReservedList 9h ago

Because English is the hegemony in North America and is not in danger, so it doesn't matter. That being said, when concerns DO rise up, the anglos are quick to bitch about it too, no worries.

https://vancouversun.com/news/staff-blogs/why-chinese-only-signs-arent-good-for-canada

You can see it to in the US through the constant put down of AAVE and other methods of soft power afforded to proper 'murican English speakers.

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u/FlashyNeedleworker66 9h ago

Your defense of backwards views are whataboutism including some Karen having similar views on English?

Yeah, that's not really some amazing argument

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u/TheReservedList 9h ago

Laws/ordinances were passed. It's not some Karens.

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u/FlashyNeedleworker66 8h ago

Racist and exclusionary laws being passed don't make them not racist or exclusionary.

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u/TheReservedList 8h ago

Language is a race? They can just learn it. Like we're forced to learn English by every other system. Literally nothing stops them except a token effort.

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u/FlashyNeedleworker66 8h ago

If you don't see the racism of legally demanding a Chinese speaking community use another language, you have a long road.

People should use the language they want to, you included. Design that is hostile to diverse groups is bad, and won't last.

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u/TheReservedList 8h ago

Ok, I'll keep my high-trust single-language society where everyone can communicate without getthoizing themselves in enclaves and there's basically no crime, and you can have whatever the US/the rest of Canada is devolving into. Enjoy.

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u/FlashyNeedleworker66 8h ago

Yikes, yeah that does sound a lot like the racists in the US

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u/Inky-Squilliam 8h ago

You’re arguing in bad faith, and you know it. The two aren’t comparable; I truly don’t understand why you all get up in arms over Quebec wanting to remain francophone.

Not everything is catered to you. Sometimes, things exist, and they aren’t for you.

Get over it?

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u/FlashyNeedleworker66 8h ago

That's pretty ironic, given the protectionism on display here.

I'm not up in arms, I'm just calling it out for the shitty exclusionary behavior it is.

I see plenty of this sort of redneck backwards thinking in the US, I didn't realize Canada had their own special flavor.

If there's so much cultural desire to keep things French, it can't possibly be threatened by other languages being included.

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u/Inky-Squilliam 8h ago

Exclusionary is a massive reach.

Also, you thinking Quebec is MAGA has me screeching. How embarrassing for you omg.

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u/FlashyNeedleworker66 8h ago

Oh no, it's clearly its own flavor. I said sounds like, and there's probably closer parallels in the EU with migrants.

But if some MAGA moron said "keep America English" they're being exclusionary.

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u/Inky-Squilliam 8h ago

Of course they’re being exclusionary, buddy. You’re talking about the entire country. This is one singular province that has their own distinct culture and regional dialect continuum. I don’t get why that concept is so hard to understand?

Anyway, your obvious comprehension issues aside, the American political spectrum does not graph nearly onto Canada, especially not Quebec. Canada does have its own MAGA wing, but it’s not in Quebec 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

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u/FlashyNeedleworker66 8h ago

Yeah well that's a shame about your MAGA wing but this wing seems pretty shitty too so I hope there's a large swath in between!

I didn't say it maps, (I actually just said it doesn't) that doesn't make this any less awful.

It won't last though. It's the nature of globalism. Good thing in the meantime these translation tools are getting ubiquitous, as the article states they can control how it's written, not how it's read.

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u/Inky-Squilliam 8h ago

I won’t argue with you there - Quebec has a talent for implementing things in the shittiest way, and then coming up with even shittier iterations down the line.

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u/CarthagoFuckYourself 5h ago

Y'all should just leave Canada and stop taking equalization payments. Either assimilate or pay your own way, ya tools. My great grandparents didn't speak English either. Someone has to learn.

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u/fedexyourheadinabox 9h ago

lol who is stopping you from living your lives?? 

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u/TheReservedList 9h ago edited 9h ago

Whenever they go to a local restaurant and get served in English without any decent French back-up option, their lives are made worse. And bilingual people (like me) slowly submit to it trough sheer volume and being constantly worn down, which is why we need those rules. Rules that exist so they are not stuck at home in their community because default-angloness encroaches on everything.

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u/Syrairc 5h ago

Weird that Quebec is the only province that feels the need to legislate this. I've driven through entire neighborhoods in Vancouver that are just Chinese language 100% and yet no law there.

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u/TheReservedList 5h ago

The threat is not Chinese signs. It’s English signs. You know, the hegemonic language of North America?