Quote:
Originally Posted by HarryT
Isn't Kobo a Canadian company? Please correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought that Canada was a bilingual country, with both French and English spoken. I'm extremely surprised that any Canadian product would not support the language of its own country!
|
It's a little confusing. English and French are the official languages of Canada at the federal level, and the government has to provide services in both languages, but the reality is that many (most?) Canadians do not speak both.
At the provincial level, French is the sole official language of the provincial government of Quebec, so they only have to provide services in French. Ontario, New Brunswick and Manitoba must provide services in both English and French. The rest of Canada (the remaining six provinces) is strictly English. Keep in mind, though, that we're talking about offering government services. And in these provinces packaging is in the official languages. Here in Ontario, everything has both English and French on its packages.
The reality for Canadians in their day-to-day lives, however, is different. I took French up until university, but I'm not bilingual because I know *no one* who speaks French, so I never had anyone with whom I could practice my oral French.