French language skills
 

I score about 71 points based on the self assesment..would like to know about the language TEF test. I have a French O-level Grade B from a few years ago..can they award points for that, or should I try the TEF. I am in UK and English is my native language so obviously I can demonstrate skills there.

The language test is usally for those who do not have French or English as their native language. As English is your native language you're fine there and for extra points for knowing French you would just mention how many years French you did at school and send a copy of the certificate showing the French exam.

French
 

Sorry I started a new thread too,

I have been told by Andrew Miller that is not true, you must take a TEF unless you have lived and worked in a French speaking environment.

I have a High School "O-level" Grade B, admittedly a while ago, and useless I am told in documenting language ability to the CHC.

True?

Re: French
 

Sorry - I replied in your new thread too! All I know is that I didn't have to do a test - just submitting a CSE certifcate in French is fine and my husband did the same. We were approved a few weeks ago.

language points
 

Dear CrazyDaisy,

I hope you are right, but I read the official Canadian website too, and it does say they can't evaluate other tests than the TEF.

Maybe you and your husband had more than enough points anyways and it didn't matter.

I score 66-70 and so can't afford to lose points.

Re: language points
 

Ah - I see, I thought you were saying you had 71 points before even considering the French language side of it. It does say in the immigration site that if you supply educational documents and written evidence instead of taking a test then it's up to the officer to decide whether you have enough points based on your submission - it would be hard for them not to give you a few points for French because a certifcate proves that you must have studied it and passed an exam in it before, so they can't deny French was studied in the past - so if you're anxious about one or two points just send a certifcate but if you want more then do the test, although if it was a long time ago and you've forgotten most of your French there's no guarantees that you'll gain many more points than just submitting the certificate!! Tee hee! :D

Re: French
 

How many points did you claim for French?

Also, what grade did you get for your CSEs?

Suze

Re: French
 

I got CSE Grade 2 but I also continued self study of French while I was in Switzerland. I wrote a note in French saying how many hours self study I had done and also showed a copy of the school certficate highlighting the French part. I think you'd only get away with claiming the 'minimum points' for French with just the certificates as there's no way to prove full fluency without a test, so I would only rely on sending certificates if you wanted to gain the minimum points only. Make sure you write something in French and highlight the hours you have been learning. Really it's up to the officer's discretion whether he allows it or not so there's no guarantees. Good luck! :)

I'm not sure how this works if you are applying for PR from outside Canada but if, like us, you go through the process once here (and, in our case, working) then should you be settled, or planning to settle, in Quebec - which is where French language skills are important - you should know that the province has its own immigration department which must issue you with a "Certificate of Selection" before the feds will even look at your PR application. In order to get this certificate you almost always, albeit there are exceptions, have a face to face interview with a Quebec immigration officer who conducts the proceedings in French. The purpose of the interview is to go through your whole set of application papers, education certificates etc etc and to tot-up your points but how well you conduct yourself in french during this interview is, in effect, your test of ability to speak the language and the interviewing officer will allot points based on how fluently you coped.

Should you not be able to keep up I am told that they will gradually slow down and then switch to English but obviously then you lost a lot of points. It is not, however, a formal exam-type language test and they couldn't care less about language certicates, O-levels or whatever ...... they just want to talk to you and see how you can really cope in a real-world situation.

I have one colleague here who thought he was OK based on language skills he had gained at school but who flunked big time and was sent away to brush up his skills and retry in a couple of years so be careful - how well you did in a school or collge exam is not the same as being able to cope in a reaol conversation and that's what they are looking for - people who can actually function in French. After all, if you can't do that then you aren't going to cope well in the workforce around here.

Yeah absolutely - if you're heading for Quebec or someplace 'Frenchified' ;) it pays to be able to speak the lingo. Many people (myself once included) have a view that Canada is largely French speaking, but you'll find that apart from Quebec and one small part of Winnipeg you're fine with just English. Of course, it comes in handy gaining the extra points but it's not the end of the world if you can't speak French and go to one of the other areas. A friend of ours came in on a short visit to do with work - they asked him a few basic questions in French and then gave him a permit there and then - not sure what kind of permit he got mind but I think different officers have different levels of leniency. :)

What has been said is mostly right (although New Brunswick is also a bi-lingual province because of the Acadian population there).

I would add that if you're thinking of getting a job in the civil service, MOST jobs in Ottawa, the federal government the CBC or even the Post Office, these days French is becoming more and more of an asset. My girlfriend works as a graphic designer, so even though she's mainly unilingual and lives in Toronto, being able to at least understand French enough to design commercial packaging is necessary.

That said, the other posters are right. For 95% of employment and just about everything other sort of interaction outside of Quebec, you don't need it.

No - it's probably true that you if you don't live in Quebec or the one or two other places mentioned that you dont "need" French to live your life but when you consider that over 20% of the Canadian population is francophone and that Quebec has a really strong and vibrant culture, to say nothing of the historical importance of the French population, you do cut yourselves off from a lot of fascinating and interesting aspects of life in canada if you don't have at least a passing knowledge.

Living in Quebec I find it really sad how little people outside the province know of what is happening here, and more so of what ius being thought here. French politicians play an important role in determining ploicy in all the parties and their opinions come out of the culture they were raised in - it's sensible to be able to keep an eye on what's happening. Not doing so would be rather like someone in London ignoring Birmingham or Manchester ....... well, they probbaly do, but that's another story.

Actually, it is fascinating to watch the English langiage news bulletins on CBC and then to watch the same day bulletins on Radio-Canada (the French language division of the CBC) for a totally different spin on thngs - not just provincial politics where you would expect there to be differences, but world politics as a whole. Interestingly, even reading the papers in both languages gives you a similarly wider view on the world and i am always amused to be able to find out more and read more often about the minutiae of british political happenings in the French newspapers than I evere discover in the English ones which have a more Torontocentric and US focussed spon on what's happening in the world.

So - outside Quebc you may not need French but you sure do miss a lot if you don't make it part of your daily diet.

"Frenchified" - I'm sure you didn't mean it that way but that's a little bit patronising, isn't it ma'am?

Quebec isn't Frenchified, it is French from day one of the European arrival in Canada, and proudly so.

Just out of interest, I read somewhere that listening to a French Canadian is totally different to listening to someone from France.
Does this mean that if we were to learn French in the UK, someone from Quebec (for example) would be unable to understand us?:confused:

Also can anyone, recommend a good Linguaphone type Beginners Course that they have tried

Messy Banquet

Sukhi:)

Ouch! Quebirder, that's a bit touchy isn't it?

:)

CraisyDaisy didn't say it was Frenchified. She said Quebec and then referred to other places as being that way, along with a big smily face. You know, a smile, joking. We knew the point she was making. Indeed you yourself acknowledged that so why question it?

Why is it that the slightest possible careless phrasing of a post these days attracts such criticism? Why not just read the content instead of looking for stuff that just isn't there?

I'm so fed up with reading an interesting thread when suddenly someone gets picky about something because it then prompts responses like this one that I'm guilty of that takes the thread further off course.