Any French Canadians in South Korea?

[justanotherwaygook]

ever stop to think that they may been raised in a bilingual household!? IMAGINE THAT!

?

You talkin' to me? 

Anyways, by that definitions, they're native speakers and are qualified.

[ANET]

I just discovered this website, so I missed the chance to contribute to this topic earlier. I apologize to readers and to the moderators for such a long delay, but I wish to comment now.

I am a French-Canadian who taught in South Korea for almost six years. I speak a perfect North American English and no one detects my ethnic background. I grew up in English Canada where I had to learn English in early children to stay alive, so I became a native English speaker.

From all the qualifications and background information I brought with me to Korea, my Honors BA was the only item of interest to Korean authorities.
I got along well with Koreans. In my fourth year, I was struck with a life-threatening illness. Only then did a Canadian discover my ancestry. He convinced the owner of the school to deny me prompt medical care and I was left to die on the school premises. It was Koreans who took me to the hospital. My Korean friends couldn't do enough for me. Some Americans helped.
Sad but true, whenever I had problems in South Korea, they were caused by a minority of Canadians who couldn't leave their hostility at home.
Aside from that, teaching in Korea was a great experience and I met other French-Canadians from English Canada teaching in East Asia.

[jaakked1]

Funny how every time I'm in the context of any discussion(anywhere) involving French Canadians there is hostility and defensiveness involved.

Any good reason for this you think?

[english_teacha84]

I'm French-Canadian from outside of Quebec! I did all of my education in French including uni, but grew up in an English majority. Hooray for being a bilingual native speaker! 

[orangeman]

I'm a Montealer, but I've been gone for a while so my French isn't so great anymore.  I will say there is something to be said about teaching a second/foreign language when you've been through it before.  I'm an Anglophone who was forced (at gun point, if my memory serves me) to learn French, and I think that gives me and others from Quebec and Eastern Canada a unique perspective when teaching kids English here.  I totally get the push back, the indifference, the resentment.  And if you're not bilingual, you really can't imagine the difficulty in trying to think in a different language.  Furthermore, the best French teacher I ever had was from China.  After a life of having French-Canadian and French-French teachers, that Chinese teacher blew us all away.  Funny as hell, honest and blunt.  Something needed when learning irregular verbs THAT MAKE NO SENSE!

In closing, GO HABS GO!

[mingus11]

Funny how every time I'm in the context of any discussion(anywhere) involving French Canadians there is hostility and defensiveness involved.

Any good reason for this you think?

I think a lot of times the supposed hostility between anglophones and francophones is exaggerated.

I live in Ottawa, and because of its location there's a large french speaking population, and for the most part, francophones make the effort to speak english when need be while in Ontario. However, my brother lives in Montreal so I visit a lot, and that effort doesn't always seem to be reciprocated. I find that most anglophones make no effort to attempt to speak french when visiting Quebec or living in Quebec, I know a lot of students who go to McGill or Concordia and have never bothered to learn a word of french. I've heard stories of people getting talked down to at restaurants and the like for not attempting to speak french when ordering and what not, but I've never experienced that at all.

And also to the last poster, GO HABS GO is right! I'm a huge Habs fan, back to the Patrick Roy days ("I can't hear what Jeremy is saying, because I have my two stanley cup rings plugging my ears." CLASSIC) Although this year we suck!

[nickster13]

Im a French Canadian. From Montreal,Quebec. But English is my first language, however I can speak french almost fluently like a typical quebece (i did grow up around them after all). Good enough?

Also, GO HABS GO INDEED!

[Cereal]

I'd like to get together with some folks and speak a little French. Mine may be a bit rusty but I find myself thinking and dreaming in French from time to time.

Born in Montreal, went to elementary school in French Immersion in Germany. I live way down south though and I don't even know where Gangnam is.

And for the record...Go Bruins! Two in a row!!!! Dare I say three? Four? More?

[Frozencat99]

Lived downtown and studied at the University of Ottawa. I can generally understand French tossed my way, but I can barely respond beyond an elementary level. Strange... sounds familiar in the context of my classroom 

The team you're looking to cheer for is the Ducks, by the way.

[andyfoggy]

this French/English thing is going to be the death of Canada
only my opinion
sorry
I love Canada

[nickster13]

Nah..there are much moe serious issues than the farce that is the french/english debate, its just a few yahoos getting screen time is all for the most part.
Also bruins? come on man, no one born in Montreal would ever turn into a Bruins fan, thats just wrong...

[kyndo]

I got along well with Koreans. In my fourth year, I was struck with a life-threatening illness. Only then did a Canadian discover my ancestry. He convinced the owner of the school to deny me prompt medical care and I was left to die on the school premises. It was Koreans who took me to the hospital. My Korean friends couldn't do enough for me. Some Americans helped.
Sad but true, whenever I had problems in South Korea, they were caused by a minority of Canadians who couldn't leave their hostility at home.
Aside from that, teaching in Korea was a great experience and I met other French-Canadians from English Canada teaching in East Asia.

o.O This sounds more like one individual sociopath than anything to do with the French/English issue. Or at least, I'm hoping so, because the alternative is just plain sad.

I went to school in BC, so French Canada was for all intents and purposes the dark side of the moon, with only the occasional message beamed to the back of my cereal box to remind me of it. Oh, and all the language classes in school, I guess. When I graduated, I decided to visit Quebec so that I could actually apply what I had been forced to learn, and I enjoyed myself immensely -- no hint of any sort of language based discrimination.

I have never noticed any sort of anti-French sentiment in BC, but I'm guessing that that may be because French is such a non issue when there are soooo many other, more visible, languages and cultures floating around.

I agree with Nickster -- I think that the language divide issue is propagated and intensified for a large part by politicians who use the resulting attention to further their own political agendas. It would be very sad to see Quebec go -- it contributes so much to the Canadian cultural identity.

[kyndo]

Additionally, there's a really good article written by the Korean Times about french Canadians teaching English in Korea:

http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/special/2009/09/177_38179.html

Good article...
but I'm a little surprised that there haven't been any Afrikaaners commenting on it _{(ook al is het waar)} 

"...For example South Africa, which is a recognized country where native English teachers are sought by Korean ``hangwon’’ has 11 official languages. English is the sixth most spoken language behind some African dialects and Afrikaans, simplified Dutch.

[orangeman]

And for the record...Go Bruins! Two in a row!!!! Dare I say three? Four? More?

[edu+smart]

This is to the original "post-er"(?) of this thread. I am not *French* Canadian, but rather an anglo that speaks French and learning now as we speak. If you ever want to meet up. drop me a line.