French in Canada and Spanish in USA.

Schumacher   Tue Apr 21, 2009 9:39 am GMT
I would like to know if these languages are REALLY spoken in Canada and USA. So, my question is:

Can you travel from New York to Los Angeles only speaking in Spanish?

Can you travel from Montreal to Vancouver only speaking in French?


Thanks in advance.
Guest   Tue Apr 21, 2009 9:59 am GMT
Spanish is spoken in some States by over 10% of the population (New York, Florida, Texas, New Mexico, California, etc) but in other states is not so spoken.

There are 45 million of Hispanics nowadays (official American Census). If you add Puerto Rico (4 million), all the illegal Hispanics than live in USA (some 10 million) and all the students of Spanish (6-8 million people), you can see that 20% of the population know Spanish in different degrees.


French is spoken in Quebec and New Brunswick. In English Canada is a minority language, studied at school. Anyway it is spoken by 8 million people there (22-23% of the Canadian population).
PARISIEN   Tue Apr 21, 2009 11:58 am GMT
<< Can you travel from New York to Los Angeles only speaking in Spanish?
Can you travel from Montreal to Vancouver only speaking in French? >>

-- That can't compare. French in Canada is rooted in a given territory, Spanish in the U.S. of A. is just an immigrant speak.

To both questions the answer is NO:
- In Canada French exists only in New Brunswick, Quebec and Western Ontario. With French you won't go further than Toronto. Further West the language is more present than it is in the USA or Siberia but it's just a matter of 2 percent instead of 0.0001%.
- In the USA Spanish has no social presence. Except for Puerto Rico and some Latino ghettoes in Florida it is virtually non existent. Second generation immigrants would be ashamed to admit they understand it. I's like Arabic, Hindi and Urdu in Europe.
Guest   Tue Apr 21, 2009 12:54 pm GMT
<<Spanish in the U.S. of A. is just an immigrant speak. >>

Spanish is spoken in New Mexico since the XVI century. In fact it was the predominant language there until the XX century.
CANadian   Tue Apr 21, 2009 9:43 pm GMT
Like PARISIEN said, no to both questions.
However, the two languages are clearly different in their status/prestige.

French is prominent and makes a clear presence on all federal institutions and publications from the Atlantic to the Pacific.
Also, Canadian prime ministers for the last 50 years (and forever in the future) had been and will be almost flunet in French.
Every other governor-general of Canada has to be French Canadian.
French in Canada is never associated with ghettos, slums, crime, drugs, illiteracy, low-paying jobs... etc.

Spanish in the United States has nowhere near the prestige and status of that of French in Canada.
Skippy   Tue Apr 21, 2009 10:03 pm GMT
I don't think you'd be able to travel across the US without speaking English. Even if you just stick to the Southwest, once you get outside of the major cities, Spanish speakers will be hard to find.
CANadian   Tue Apr 21, 2009 10:45 pm GMT
Actually, it is possible to travel for 1125km from Gaspé to Gatineau without ever having to speak a word of English and not even seeing any English signs/billboards, and that's just inside Québec... not counting franco-New Brunswick and franco-Ontario, which would probably bring up the distance to around 1500km.

Now, tell me, where in the United States can you drive for 1000km and not have to speak or see English?
blanc   Wed Apr 22, 2009 4:27 am GMT
<<Now, tell me, where in the United States can you drive for 1000km and not have to speak or see English? >>


Easy, you can drive across the whole country blindfolded. You might die though.
Noir   Wed Apr 22, 2009 4:46 am GMT
<<Easy, you can drive across the whole country blindfolded. You might die though. >>

And/or many others might die too.
Paul   Wed Apr 22, 2009 5:07 am GMT
<<Spanish is spoken in New Mexico since the XVI century.>>

No.

This is a common misconception.
CANadian   Wed Apr 22, 2009 6:58 am GMT
What I don't understand is the stubborn attitude of some Mexicans and Hispanics to claim that the South West still belongs to Mexico and not the United States... that it has been "stolen".

Even though the South West (DID) at some point in time belong to Mexico, the fact is that Mexico lost the war and the ownership of the land transferred to the United States due to their victory.

Also, and perhaps more importantly, it's just not logical to make such a claim because, by extension, it would be like saying that, for example, the 13 American states actually belong to the United Kingdom... which is ridiculous.

Hispanics should really stop to make such ridiculous and illogical claims... the south west is NO LONGER Mexican and should not be annexed to Mexico. Please get over that fact, it's been a long time ago since the Alamo... there was a battle and you lost it, therefore, you lost the land.
realist   Wed Apr 22, 2009 7:27 am GMT
You really don't understand it or you are just saying that? Territorial disputed are one of the main sources of conflict, it's hardly surprising that people go on about it, they do everywhere, whether it's realistic or not.
Speedy Gonzalez   Wed Apr 22, 2009 8:58 am GMT
<<Hispanics should really stop to make such ridiculous and illogical claims... the south west is NO LONGER Mexican>>

South western is becoming more and more Mexican. By the time California and Texas passed to the US of A they were hardly inhabited by the Mexicans and even in Texas there were more Anglosaxons than Mexicans really. Mexicans lost the war, but are wining the demographic war. Go to L.A. and see.
Speedy Gonzalez   Wed Apr 22, 2009 9:07 am GMT
<<No.

This is a common misconception. >>

Yes . Spanish has been permanently spoken in NM since the XVI century until nowadays and will continue to be spoken in the following centuries... The fact that most of the Spanish speakers in USA are inmigrants does not mean there are not rooted Hispanics in New Mexico or Texas, or do you thing that when USA when annexed these territories the Spanish speakers simply dissapeared?. In fact New Mexican Spanish is quite different to Spanish spoken in Mexico because it was an isolate territory and evolved differently.
User   Wed Apr 22, 2009 9:41 am GMT
<< or do you thing that when USA when annexed these territories the Spanish speakers simply dissapeared?>>


Of course they didn't disappear. Almost all of them stayed, but were anglicized a LONG time ago, and their descendants are regular monolingual anglophone Americans.

Nearly all Spanish speakers today are of recent immigrant stock. FACT.

Its true that Spanish has been spoken in a seemingly continuous fashion, but only because there is constant Latin American immigration to the U.S. Spanish is NOT a native language in the U.S. People love to distort the truth to support this agenda, but its just not so. The comparison to French in Canada is absurd.