I’ve thought about this issue for several days and come to the conclusion that the Air Canada CEO needs to learn French.
Air Canada CEO In Trouble For Not Speaking French
Air Canada CEO Michael Rousseau found himself embroiled in controversy last week when addressing an audience of business leaders in Montreal, Quebec. It was his first major speech as Air Canada’s Chief Executive, and despite being in the heart of French-speaking Canada, he delivered his speech exclusively in English.
After finishing, a reporter asked him a question…in French. Rousseau’s response startled the audience:
“Can you redo that in English? Because I want to make sure I understand your question before I respond to it.”
The journalist, offended, told Rousseau’s to have his aide translate the question. She responded by noting that Rousseau had already addressed the question in his speech. The reporter responded (in English):
“How can you live in Montreal without speaking French? Is it easy?”
Rousseau responded:
“I’ve been able to live in Montreal without speaking French, and I think that’s a testament to the city of Montreal.”
The exchange unleashed a firestorm of criticism. Even Prime Minister Justin Trudeau condemned Rousseau, promoting an “apology” for those who were offended and a promise to improve his French:
“I want to make it clear that in no way did I mean to show disrespect for Quebecers and francophones across the country. I apologize to those who were offended by my remarks.
I pledge today to improve my French, an official language of Canada and the common language of Québec, while tackling the serious commercial challenges facing Air Canada as we move from surviving the pandemic to rebuilding to normalcy. The fact that this iconic company is headquartered in Montreal is a source of pride for me and our entire executive team. I reiterate Air Canada’s commitment to show respect for French and, as a leader, I will set the tone.”
Calls continue for his resignation.
My Take
I’ve visited over 135 countries. In traveling the world over the last 15 years, I’ve come to see what an important tool language is not just for communication, but for respect.
My initial reaction was to chuckle at those crazy Québécois who seem totally fixated on preserving French culture in a very diverse nation. After all, the international business language remains English and the fact that Rousseau could grow up with two French-speaking parents and spend 14 years in Montreal without learning conversational French is a testament to how cosmopolitan Montreal is and the English dominance in Canada.
But the more I thought about it, the more I realized how important French is to Quebec. A half century ago, French speakers were routinely discriminated against and treated as second-class both professionally and socially. That still stings today and French-speaking Canadians have fought long and hard to ensure that will never happen again.
It’s not about the French, it’s about the respect. I realize that when I think about my habit of trying to learn simple greetings in the local language of the country I am visiting. The cliche is that the French (in Metropolitan France) sneer at Americans trying to say merci and au revoir. But that is simply not the case, at least in my experience. Rather, I cannot think of a nation where a small effort to speak the local language is not appreciated, even if the speaker quickly reverts to English.
I’m sure Rousseau took French in school…hopefully he can read it. While hindsight is always 20-20, it was truly an odd omission not to at least include a few lines of French in his speech.
CONCLUSION
As someone who struggled to learn German, I know how difficult it is for an adult to learn a second language. The road won’t be easy for Rousseau, but the greatest apology he can offer is by learning French.
And let this be a reminder for all of us when we travel. Even a simple attempt to say hello or goodbye or please or thank you in the local language goes a long way. Make it a point when you visit a new place to have a phrase card ready and be ready to engage the local language, even if it is just a few words. It will be greatly appreciated and help us all to better get along.
What is your take on the French controversy at Air Canada?
image: Air Canada
He should have spoken French there
No different from when I lived in Miami. Speak Spanish there
I understand the parallel and think Spanish is greatly helpful in Miami, but French is the official language in Montreal…don’t think Spanish is in southern Florida even if it is the predominant language.
Neither is English an official language of the USA
We’ve become bilingual, just as Canada is. We can complain about it all we want, but the reality is, we are bilingual. Everyone should speak both languages, same as in Canada. Some areas are predominantly English speaking, others are predominately Spanish speaking
I doubt you would find any hispanohablantes that would agree with you.
We in the US pat ourselves on the back because “the US doesn’t have an official language”. The reality is that we don’t need to. Every immigrant longs to speak English. Every immigrant wants his children to speak English. There is basically no pathway to real success in this country without English. You will hear younger generations speaking Spanish, but that’s just an identity thing—a lot of times they are speaking English in Spanish, ie with English sentence structure.
LOL, that isn’t the same at all. Spanish is not an official language of the US. French is an official language of Canada.
Sorry but I agree with Brian on this one. French is an official language of Canada but only to make Québécois happy. It’s certainly shouldn’t be considered official on the Island of Montreal as pretty much everyone speaks English there. They have to like Brian says to get anywhere in buisness in Canada or the USA. Far outside of Montreal- yes it’s pretty much all French and that’s all they know. So why aren’t they bi lingual then. Except for Quebec City where Americans
And the rest of Canada spend their vacation dollars.. It’s not a one way street guys. I live in Montreal now for 17 years and don’t speak French. I can get by but certainly not conversationally. I have no issues -90% of French people around Montreal speak English to me.
It’s not easy learning as an adult.
Bonjour Pierre, je crois que vous avez oublié vos cours d’histoire du Canada. Le français n’est pas une langue officielle pour faire plaisir aux Québécois mais bien la langue qui était parlée au Bas Canada avant la confédération. En ne mentionnant que les Québécois vous oubliez aussi tous les franco-canadiens d’un bout à l’autre de l’océan.
Être fier de ne pas parler la langue locale est un manque de respect envers ceux avec qui vous vivez et ceux avec qui vous communiquez. Vous croyez vraiment que tous ceux qui parlent en anglais avec vous le font sans se dire “comment se peut-il qu’après toutes ces années il ne parle pas encore français?”. Il n’y a rien de plus frustrant que de devoir parler en anglais lors d’une réunion lorsqu’il y a un unilingue anglophone résidant au Québec depuis des années.
Ask your French Canadian friends translating my message and look at their faces while they do it.
Google translate says: Bernard is a hypocrite using French in an English language blog and complains about respect. Can’t even respect the blog’s language?
Bernard est un hypocrite qui utilise le français dans un blog de langue anglaise et se plaint du respect. Vous ne pouvez même pas respecter la langue du blog ?
By the way, I don’t believe the First Nation spoke English or French, just like Natives Americans.
The Europeans, are who causes all the mess.
No hablo Espanol.
Agreed. I’ve never had anything but positive responses to speaking a few words of a local language. Most of the time I’m greeted with a bemused smile followed by a response in English. It’s definitely a sign of respected and certainly has been appreciated.
I don’t think you mean “bemused” – which probably precludes appreciation.
Yeah, I have a little different take. Yes, I fully acknowledge he should make an effort at the language and be careful about how he asks French language questions to be translated, given the audience…. he really should know better
But my first thought was “Typical Quebecois” . VERY touchy about the language and culture to the point of being aggressive. From what I’m reading, he was asked a question (in French) that he already answered… by someone already well aware of his less than perfect French; a question that clearly is meant to bait him and just to make a point about how insufficiently he is respecting their heritage and culture. Totally unnecessary.
That said, my advice to Americans visiting Montreal: If you just walk up to someone and ask something in English, you will usually be met with a disgusted look and the person will act like they can’t understand you. Instead, learn a few rudimentary phrases to stumble through, then immediately apologize for not speaking their perfect language in their superior culture because you are a dumb American and we aren’t taught enough language in school. Everyone will now bend over backwards to be nice to you and help you along in the flawless English they speak.
There are is fair percentage of Americans who are certainly bothered by people who do not speak English while in the United States. The moment in the not-so-far-off future when Chinese tourists walk up to Americans and speak to them in Mandarin is the moment you’ll hear about how speaking the local tongue is incredibly important.
Agree completely with your observation about people being bothered, although in more “worldly” US cities one should expect to hear a few other languages. Most people wouldn’t be surprised by Spanish in most of the US given the large population that uses it as a first language.
Best would be if we can all have patience and respect for the visitors who want to see the our beautiful country- after all, most of us Americans are linguistically lost in many parts of the world!
I will note however, that in this one specific case, English is an actual official language of Canada. Quebec still is part of Canada….. The French language and culture should be respected as being am equal part of Canadian heritage- but that goes both way and with tolerance on both sides.
LOL, It will be a long, long time until English is replaced by Mandarin as the lingua franca of the world.
How can you live in Los Angeles without speaking Spanish? Is it easy?
Mi español esta bien.
Unfortunately Matthew didn’t attend Spanish class on the ser/estar and Bien/bueno day.
How should I have said it? Mi espanol estar bueno?
esta bueno. The subject is “tu espanol”
Need to conjugate the verb
You likely dropped another notch on the Stuart scale.
“es bueno” – “it is good”, vs. “está” – “is at this very moment doing well”
Harry is correct.
Spanish happens to have two different words for the verb “is.” It’s not a perfect rule, but “ser” is used for more permanent states of being (e.g., physical characteristics, relationships), and “estar” is used for more temporary states (e.g, emotions, locations).
Meanwhile, verbs that are acting on the subject of a sentence need to be conjugated. As a result, it’d be “Yo soy Matthew.” for “I am Matthew,” while it’d be “Yo estoy bien” for “I am well.”
Because the conjugation already implies who the subject of the sentence is, it’s extremely common to just omit the pronoun altogether. “Soy Matthew” and “Estoy bien” already imply that you’re referring to yourself.
The only time verbs are not conjugated is when they are not acting on the subject of a sentence. For example, in the sentence, “I want to go to Taco Bell.” the verb “want (querer)” is conjugated but the verb “go (ir)” is not. It translates as “Quiero ir a Taco Bell.” Meanwhile, “I go to Taco Bell” is “Voy a Taco Bell.”
Personally… I find heavily inflected languages to be awful to learn as an English speaker. There’re way too many conjugations to memorize given tense, subject, etc. Chinese is great in that regard, the verbs all stay the same no matter who or what is talked about. “I is, he is, they is, we is…” are all correct. There’s no need for “be” or “am” or “are.”
@Joe Chivas Nah, he at least tried and, anyway, is perfect able to hold his own at Taco Bell.
What I have heard is that English is easy to learn as a second language and become reasonably well understood. It’s a very tough language to become great at, especially as a second language.
Except…..Brazilians speak Portuguese.
I’m just surprised with 2 French speaking parents, 14 years in Montreal, and growing up a Canadian where it’s taught as a second lanugage he doesn’t have fluency
But the reporter was baiting and he was doing the right thing as a CEO to get clarification
Indeed.
I would have expected the same.
Why did he not learn French?
Unusual.
I agree with you except for the fact that Quebec has a strangle hold on the government and the culture. The majority of judges on Canada’s supreme court must be from Quebec, and a person cannot become prime minister without speaking french even if they grew up in a non French speaking area. French is not going anywhere. Its a bilingual nation. There is no legal requirement for someone to learn French.
Matt, you need to dig deeper into the history and politics before you agree with the rude reporter. The french issue in Quebec is not as black and white like you make it seem.
Please enlighten me. Canadian history is not my forté.
Even if it was a trap by a rude reporter, French is so important in Quebec…it just boggles my mind the CEO is unwilling to speak a few sentences in French.
Quebec basically force french on the whole country. They got butt hurt when the Canadian Governor General struggled with her french. There is a reason why the show South Park has a song with the lyrics “There is no Canada like French Canada. It’s the greatest Canada in the world.” If English is an official language of Canada, then the reporter should respect the CEO’s right to speak English.
https://youtu.be/jfiytSQKpPE
A tempest in a teapot. Should he have learned the local language over the course of decades? Yes. Does the guy’s fluency in what they call French in Quebec directly affect his ability to run the airline? No.
I suspect that he knows much more French than he admits to. It’s probably a lack of confidence and maybe unsure of gender and verb conjugation.
I also realize that he is being treated like a politician who, at the federal level, has to know French, rather than a CEO of an international company.
Canada is, in some ways, a weird country. It is not like the United States.
I could understand their viewpoint if they lived in a country where EVERYONE speaks French. Are they just as snobbish and biased with their fellow Canadians who live in Vancouver or Banff or anywhere where they don’t speak French ?
Just like in the United States, I’m American, the native tongue here is English yet we are constantly bombarded by Spanish signage, Spanish speakers who have no desire to learn English even though they LIVE here. Seems everyone is supposed to (instantly) speak two languages. If I move to France or Columbia then, of course, I would be expected to learn French or Spanish languages to function in everyday living (banking, grocery shopping, schooling, etc.). To expect people to speak French in only ONE area of Canada is ridiculous, biased and snobbish.
Well, you’d be ‘expected’ to know the language as much as they’re ‘expected’ to know the language here. Come on, man, you know that living and prospering in America without being able to speak English is hard, even if you generally live among others who speak your language. Your characterization of people who “have no desire to learn English” is just a phony construction. How do you know the operation of their mind? How do you know their plans to learn the language or not?
By the way, I know many American “expats” (aka immigrants) who live in cities like France, Belgium, Poland, Slovakia, Portugal, Spain, Hong Kong, and Mexico without knowing 10 words in the local language. They’re less “expected” to learn it than immigrants in America who find themselves trying to make a living here.
countries of course, not cities.
Let me put some light in your ignorance room. If you would move to Columbia you would continue to speak english… If you would move to ColOmbia you would speak spanish…
then they should vote higher for independence
In case nobody has noticed the name of the company is Air CANADA. Canada has 2 official languages and last I looked Canadians are free to speak in one of them anywhere in Canada. The only reason this fuss has arisen is because AC’s HQ are in YUL. Not in YYZ (their largest hub) or YVR (the second largest hub). The only reason the HQ is in YUL is political and not based in logic.
I am surprised AC didnt provide him with free French language classes as they did for me when I worked for them in YUL but learning a language as an adult is much more challenging than when you are young (as I can attest).
The PM wasnt named Trudope without a good reason.
I can verify Matthew’s advice about respect. We have visit 106 countries and have never met a rude local—-not even in Paris. But we always make eye contact, smile, and greet first in the local language (for the correct time of day) followed immediately by English. That way we pay respect and they know we speak English. Works every time. Please, thank you, and good-bye are also musts. A further compliment of the food, merchandise, service, or store always catches them off guard and goes a long way. When a waiter introduces him/herself, we reciprocate. We even made friends this way and have been treated to wonderful hospitality. Respect is contagious.
What I want to know is WHY in any country/region where they speak French as 1st language, when you ask them something in English they just wont answer you even if they understand what you say, and in the best case they will give you such a look that you would think that you just landed from the moon.
While in places where the 1st language is English they will try to help you when you ask them something in any other language if they understand what you’re saying.
I’m saying in general, there will always be good people there and bad people here, but this is the attitude.
In Quebec specifically.
Funny to see that the CEO of Air France (Ben Smith) is Canadian and does not speak French….And I don’t remember any journalist expecting him to be French Fluent
Ben Smith is not CEO of a company called Air France. The company is called Air France-KLM. Its HQ is in France.
Funny to see that Ben Smith actually speaks French pretty fluently. A quick YouTube search and you will find out too. Also, there was a fair amount of articles related to the controversy of choosing a non-French CEO when he got hired. You will also find that if you do a quick google search.
When he joined the AF/KLM company, he had a personal translator and I think he still has during specific critical meetings. And I guess he has taken lessons since then and it is true he has made clear efforts to learn and he has massively improved. Coming back to his appointment, people were surprised as the French State is one of the AF/KLM shareholders (mainly to piss the Dutch off) and they were surprised that the French government was not proactively pushing for a French profile
I lived in Belgium and everyone has good fluency in his/her non-mother tongue, be it French Walloon or Dutch Flanders.
And everybody speaks -at minimum – basic English.
So, what’s the problem with Canada?
Yes, I recognize that Americans don’t learn foreign languages. That’s a problem.
But English – for better or worse – is the lingua Franca (sorry, bad joke) around the world in the 21st century.
The Québécois need not be offended when someone speaks to them in English.
By the way, in every country that I visit, I learn, in advance, 6-8 basic expressions which can “soften” initial interactions.
Such as: hello, good morning/evening, thank you, please, yes, no,
If English was good enough for Jesus Christ, it’s good enough for me!
J’essaye d’apprendre le francais mais a mon age ce n’est pas facile. (agree that it is a sign of respect to at least try and learn, it certainly has helped me in my trips to west Africa.)
And what about the rights of Anglophones?
I was once in France and a lecture was given in English by a Latin American writer. A French teacher told me that was unfair, to have an English conference in France. I told him he should blame the US ad the UK. If those countries wouldn’t have invaded Normandy in 1944, we would be listening this lecture in German.
You know that typical American response is so tiring. If it weren’t for the French we would still be saying God save the King and flying the Union Jack.
It’s she same thing with hockey. As a fan of the great sport, The Montreal Canadians are always hand cuffed as to a coach. There is intense pressure to make sure he is fluent in French. It has limited their pool as such. So many great coaches have been passed over as a result as so few legitimate NHL caliber coaches speak French.
Here is a great link to the insanity that surrounds le habs back and forth with the very few coaches that speak French…The result is that they just keep rotating back and forth amongst the only three who speak French as they wait for a new one to come up the ranks.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/25/sports/hockey/canadiens-perfect-coaching-hire-he-speaks-french.html
*Canadiens
Is (sic) the Montreal Canadiens a fan of the great sport?
https://www.theguardian.com/media/mind-your-language/2010/aug/04/dangling-modifiers-hanging-participles
Excellent article, you were really able to put yourself in our (French Canadian/Québécois) shoes. Thank you for your empathy for this issue and stating the obvious.
To bad that this article was another opportunity to do some good old Québec basing…
Does Tim Clark speak Arabic?Does he even say a few Arabic phrases at press conferences? I’m sure Mr. Rousseau speaks conversational French, and yet, chose to conduct this press conference in English, the international language of travel today.
French Canadians will be belly-aching about their precious language and culture ‘til the end of time when the planet will be hurtling to its destruction into the sun. It’s time to cut them loose once and for all.
There is something sadly wrong with a country that has to categorize two (or 5 or 8) languages as “official”. The CEO of Air Canada speaks the international language of business – English. I’m sure he knows enough French to handle the rudiments necessary to interact socially and that’s all he needs to know to show respect. English is an “official” language as well in Canada so the use of it exclusively should not be a point of contention. In the predominantly German and Portuguese community where I live, my ability to speak both “official” languages is useless as it is in the majority of Canada.
I speak both English and French. However, if I were to move to Germany, Austria, or some parts of Switzerland for more than a decade, I think it would be very odd if I could not communicate in conversational German, even if many people in those countries speak a certain level of English. To not do so comes across as lazy or indifferent to the surroundings and culture around which one finds themselves.
I really think the French speakers who are outraged need to get over themselves. He grew up in the city and obviously as a local hot song just fine using one of two recognized languages in his country. He considers it a tribute to the city that he could do so. How the heck is this an insult or denigrating to French? He wasn’t offended to be asked in French he asked for English to ensure he he had a correct understanding of the question.
The insult here is in the arrogance of demanding that he must speak both languages. When you have a country with multiple languages not everyone is going to speak both of them. If he had refused to take questions in French that would be one thing. But that wasn’t the case at all.
If you want people to listen then create a way to be heard respectfully. Montreal is unique in many ways (language/culture/religion) compared to other cities in North America. In response to this post, I believe it is important to remember there is a greater audience listening outside of city of Montreal – in the province of Quebec where French is the official language.
Mr Klint’s comments were spot on… Until he realized his failure to be sufficiently apologetic.
As all of this is alleged to be about cultural sensitivity, I’ll wait patiently for Quebec to sponsor the bill to make Cantonese a third official language. It would be pretty “disrespectful” if they didn’t.
I’m sorry that there’s so little left of a great culture. Hopefully these tantrums provides some solace.
But, it doesn’t change reality.
Have you considered the implications of your thoughts if applied more broadly to the broader population? If all leaders much speak both French & English to effectively lead an organization in Canada, that would eliminate a lot of potential talent from the overall pool. In Canada, the people who fluently speak both are often the people with the most privileged backgrounds (private school, access to regular travel, etc.), so language mandates would effectively cause the rich to stay rich and prevent the less educated but equally capable (sans language) to climb the social ladder.
I’m not saying that his comment was not hurtful (he definitely should have used more tact), but people calling for his resignation should take serious pause to consider how this type of policy would affect their society.
I’ve been living in Quebec for 12 years now and get to know very well Québécois their inferiority complex. In my opinion Air Canada and all other international companies should move out of Montréal (to Toronto) for example there offices. Let Québécois alone in their misery. Hopefully they will eventually understand that bullying and systematic discrimination of people that are better educated and speak more languages than you does not make you progress.
My observation is that most of the commenters here don’t speak a second language and therefore become defensive of English and resistant to multilingualism. It’s not that hard to learn basic expressions in another language. This lack of basic respect is inexcusable for anyone, but especially for the ceo of a company based in a bilingual city/province/country. The ugly American stereotype exists for a reason.
Two French speaking parents and yet he doesn’t have command of French language? . CEO of Air Canada where is employees are bilingual and ground and inflight announcements are bilingual and yet he doesn’t have command of the French language? . Strange. Very very strange
He needs to resign.