For many McGill students, brushing up on their French is on their never-ending to-do list. Or maybe you’re a prospective McGill student worried about Quebec’s plan to have 80 per cent of non-Francophone students speak an intermediate level of French. Either way, learning French is a great way to feel[Read More…]
Tag: french
Quebec needs to rethink its French tuition agreement
Since 2018, an agreement between the governments of France, Belgium, and Quebec has exempted francophone students from France and Belgium from the skyrocketing international tuition fee supplement. Under this collaborative initiative allowing Quebec to maintain the Francophonie, these undergraduate students are subject to the Canadian rate of tuition, while graduate[Read More…]
Point-Counterpoint: McGill’s decision to pause its $50 million French program
McGill must teach Legault a lesson – Liliana Mason Following the Quebec government’s Oct. 13 announcement of a tuition hike for out-of-province and international students, the McGill administration announced a pause to its $50 million Rayonnement du Français initiative—set to teach both students, faculty and staff French and help them[Read More…]
‘The French Dispatch’ is the height of the Wes Anderson aesthetic
Nearly three years after his last feature, beloved American filmmaker Wes Anderson is back with The French Dispatch. Premiering in Toronto and theUnited States on Oct. 22, the film was released in theatres across Canada on Oct. 28. Anderson described it as a “love letter to journalism,” and it is[Read More…]
Letter to the Editor: There is no “quest for monolingual domination” in Québec
On Sept. 18, The McGill Tribune published an opinion piece titled “Quebec’s quest for monolingual domination makes healthcare less accessible.” In this article, the author made dubious and confusing links between Bill 10, font changes on information signs at Saint Mary’s hospital, and what he described as “Quebec’s quest for monolingual[Read More…]
Quebec’s quest for monolingual domination makes healthcare less accessible
This past summer, I decided to stay in Montreal instead of returning home to the States. In June, I walked around the McGill Ghetto and the Plateau, delivering my CV and asking for interviews. Working in the service industry means that you work with people, so, without fail, each time[Read More…]
Lack of French PGSS communications discussed at final Council meeting
On Dec. 6, the Post-Graduate Students’ Society (PGSS) Council held its last meeting of 2017, beginning with a discussion regarding translating PGSS emails, which are currently only written in English, into French. Councillors next debated a motion to prioritize PGSS engagement with the Quebec Student Union (QSU) over the Association[Read More…]
McGill Quebec Studies: Maintaining an international university’s local roots
The existence of McGill’s Quebec Studies Program is currently up for debate, due to its low registration rates. It may seem logical to cut a niche program that does not attract many students. Quebec Studies is particularly specialized—it is an interdisciplinary field that focuses on a specific locality, and because[Read More…]
Viewpoint: My study abroad experience
This past summer, I spent six weeks studying French language and literature at Middlebury Language Schools, an intensive program at Middlebury College in Vermont. The experience not only improved my French as expected, but also opened my eyes to the educational possibilities availably beyond the Roddick Gates. Prior to registering[Read More…]
English versus French: A false dichotomy
Having grown up a son of French and Tunisian immigrants in the West Island, a mostly English-speaking part of Montreal, I have had a curious experience with language. Although Bill 101, The Charter of the French Language, was at first necessary to preserve the French language in Quebec, current attempts[Read More…]
