Editorial

Written by Dale Sproule

The question we have probably heard more than any other since we began publishing is,
“Why don’t you publish the magazine in any languages other than French and English?”

Our standard answer is, “Because English and French are the languages of the marketplace in Canada. If you don’t learn at least one of these languages then you will have a hard time finding suitable employment here and you will almost certainly never reach your potential as an employee, employer or contributor to Canadian society. Canadian Newcomer Magazine was created to help you settle and integrate in your new homeland. And learning to speak the language of the marketplace is a vital part of the integration process.”

People have argued with us. Many Chinese readers say they know of people in their community who are doing just fine, without being able to speak a word of English. They read Chinese newspapers, shop in Chinese stores and supermarkets, eat in Chinese restaurants and deal with Chinese clients. In the face of this hard evidence we are forced to admit that for a very small percentage of the population, it is possible to get along like this in Canada without too much inconvenience. Of course, you will never be able to help your children with their homework, do your own taxes, deal with large corporations or institutions without an interpreter or be truly connected with the culture that surrounds you. You will probably miss out on opportunities for growth, you will never be able to change careers, simple tasks will frustrate you and you will never be able to interact with people of other cultures – so you will not be able to participate in Canadian life. Your children may be Canadian, but you will always be a Chinese, or Russian, or South Asian person living in Canada rather than being a Canadian. And if you are content with that, we are not about to argue, but neither will we go to the trouble and expense of doing a version of the magazine in your first language. If we started to translate the magazine into other languages, where would we stop? It would certainly need to be in Chinese, Hindi, Urdu and Spanish. And if we want to make it accessible to all the major ethnic communities, we’d be well advised to do versions in Russian, Farsi, Tagalog, Portuguese...in fact, deciding which languages to exclude would be quite a dilemma.

And we would no longer be doing you the service of helping you integrate in Canada by providing information in the languages of the marketplace - so that you could learn English (or French) at the same time as you are gathering information to make your settlement process easier.

So, in a nutshell (a Canadian adage that means “in short”) by publishing the magazine only in Canada’s official languages, we consider ESL (and FSL) to be the single most important element in your settlement and integration process. If you want to be Canadian, you must learn to communicate with other Canadians.

CNM