ready to heat and serve eh.

Given that French French is probably not proper Canadian French I'd expect to see something like "Prêt à manger" (Ready to eat) for things like take-away pizza or moules frites (Mussels & chips) here. Perhaps a private e-mail to Chamois who is real French rather than British living in France like me.

How about 'Speak French you obnoxious American'?

"Prêt à cuire et à servir" in france's french, but maybe there's a subtkle difference in Quebec.

@DJ : Who said that?

@DJ - since Quebec relies on American tourism as part of their economy (we went skiing there more than once when I was growing up and dropped a lot of US dollars into what was then a horrible Canadian economy), I disagree with "speak French you obnoxious American".

Consider that MOST of the world willingly takes US dollars...how many languages am I supposed to learn? I know, I know, everybody in Europe knows like sixteen languages fluently, Americans are arrogant pricks, etc...The alternative is I keep my dollars at home.

Thoughts???

@hammac : I am glad you remember my name =)
I would confirm Snorri's translation but maybe "faire chauffer" or "réchauffer" instead of "cuire", don't you think? (it depends of the thing you want to heat)

krellin, keep your dollars at home.

I cannot see the relevance between the fact that the rest of the world accept your money, (why should we refuse?) and the fact you can't understand at least two languages. But don't worry, we don't care about that, and I bet DJ was sarcastic saying that.

Does the whole world accept Australian, Canadian, British, etc. currency too? Pretty sure it's not because of the language.

The issue is that, as an American, outside of learning Spanish (which is useful for the southern United States and Latin America), there is little value in learning any other European language. Most of them are only spoken in one (or a small handful) of countries, and everyone who is either young or well educated in those countries already speaks English anyway.

And though I can't translate into French Canadian or French, since I work with our translators here at the office, I can say that we keep separate translations for both of them and even short phrases are almost always different.

"Does the whole world accept Australian, Canadian, British, etc. currency too? Pretty sure it's not because of the language. "
Well you used to be able to do a lot with sterling yes. Haven't tried in the last few years though :/

nola is right. In Europe, Shengan makes it highly relevant to know multiple languages. But here in US, unless you're a frequent European tourist, learning French, German, Italian, or any other European language has very little use.

Plus, it's a lot harder to learn a language when you don't hear it every day and aren't immersed in its culture. That's why so few Americans can speak other languages. In Europe, access to language immersion is much more accessible.

I'll add to that through most of Europe learning English is expected, even here in England learning a second language is only compulsary for 3 years or so - apart from that it's optional and most people stop

@nola2172 - as far as I know there isn't an "official" canadian french... though that is just what I remember learning, I could be wrong. I thought it was just a dialect though (slang etc.).

English Power!

We all should learn Chinese. They will be dominant soon

This sounds like the 'American's are ignorant of European history' thread from a week ago. And the reasons are the same - if a European walks 10 miles, they are in another country - learning a language is therefore beneficial and practical. Other than Spanish, I really won't have an opportunity to use another language.

"if a European walks 10 miles, they are in another country" - Only Wales, does that really count? :P

There's people out in the center of the US, they could probably drive 10 hours and not hit a border. That's a very foreign concept to those in other continents... except for maybe Kestas.

And even for me, when I do hit a border (which is still like 8 hours away), THEY STILL SPEAK ENGLISH THERE. North America is so boring. I do know German, though (I used to be fluent), and still haven't taught myself Spanish. :( It wasn't always like this: I live in Milwaukee, where they spoke German and Polish more than English. I've even found very old newspapers in German in my basement.

I feel great when I manage to talk english, spanish or german to someone else. So OK you must not know another language and it seems useless but that is a very good experrience.

As an Albertan who knows intermediate Canadian French, I will give it a try:
Prêt à réchauffer et à servir . If you need to translate any given term into Canadian French, Canadian English or Latin into one of the others on that list, search for grand dictionnaire terminologique.

I believe the correct translation is,

"Ah ben tabernac! Ce truc la c'est pret a manger ou quoi?! 'Sti calisse, ben ouai!"

I live in Montreal, so I'll be back with a more polite translation for a food package or whatnot.

when i drive for eight hours i hit cliffs- and I'm in Europe. It seems to me that any attempt to compare anything ( even number of languages) between Europe and the U.S is inherently flawed as the U.S is a COUNTRY.
As a Brit I have a hell of a lot more in common with Americans, Canadians, Aussies or any other English-country than I do the various countries of Europe. This includes almost all people only speaking English, similar to Spain where most only speak Spanish, but v.different from Austria where they all speak English as well as many speaking Spanish.

I always thought Spaniards tended to have at least some proficiency in a second language, but usually it ended up being a smaller local one like Catalan...

Anyways, as a Canadian, everyone is required to spend quite a lot of time in basic French classes. Usually no one in the basic French class listens, so it's pretty much pointless- those in the French Immersion program like me are still plagued by kids who don't really want to learn the language but are being forced to by their parents. I'd say only a small percentage of Canadians understand French, I guess.