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Comment by taejo | Hacker News Reader

> An anecdote from a trip to Quebec city. My wife and I walked up to a hostess to inquire about getting a table for dinner. We greeted her in French. As soon as we started to ask about a table, she stopped us and said, "No no no no. This will be in English."

I was under the impression (having never been to Quebec) that she was in fact breaking the law by doing this.

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As someone who lives in Quebec, I assure you that the government does not legislate what languages people can speak. They're picky about signs and menus and whatever, but you can't tell people what language to speak. There was a motion in the legislature to urge people not use "Bonjour-Hi" as a greeting, but that's not binding, and cannot be.

To my knowledge that wouldn't be breaking the law. The law is that service has to be AVAILABLE in French.

From the Charter of the French language: "Consumers of goods and services have a right to be informed and served in French." http://www.legisquebec.gouv.qc.ca/en/showdoc/cs/C-11#se:5

Yes, and these consumers who requested service in French were told, "no, this will be in English"

It's a little shocking that you're under this impression. The Charter of the French Language in Quebec ensures the right of consumers to be informed and served in French. It does not prevent people from serving you in English or any other language for that matter.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charter_of_the_French_Language

That's exactly why I thought it was illegal for people requesting service in French to be told, "no, this will be in English"

If they insisted to be served in French then they would have to be served in French, but what little of the situation has been detailed this does not seem to be the case.

I think it's ambiguous. At what point is there a refusal, and what degree of insistence is required? Someone initiates a request for service in French, the response is "no, no, no this will be in English". Has that person refused to conduct the transaction in French?

I suppose the person requesting service could be more forceful about insisting on being served in French, but does someone have to go through a second round of insisting/refusing before service has been denied? And what words count as insisting (id that is required), what words count as refusal? "No, no, no, this will be in English" seems very close to a refusal to me.

I wouldn't be surprised if this has been formally litigated in Canada, it'd be interesting to know.

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