bazzz

Andrew, you've only got moderate language skills in English yourself. You don't seem to have mastered simple things like the use of articles yet. So don't you think you're being just a little bit hypocritical?

RN1

Nurses & medical staff going for jobs in Canada have to be assessed not just in their qualifications, credentials & to see if their education is on a par with Candian medical professionals but also in their language proficiency English or french - depending on which Province of course) - fail the exam & you can't get your work permit/visa.

I would have thought it would be simple enough (& make sense) to extend versions of these requirements to all workers applying to go to Canada. I can't see why it's such a hot topic because it seems like a no brainer to me!!?? How can you expect to get a decent job without being able to speak the language properly??

My parents moved to Spain some years back & they have learned Spanish because they want to be able to intgrate into their village. They say there are Brits who have lived there +20 yrs who still speak no Spanish at all. Personally I think that it's rude & disrespectful to the country you choose to make your home in. I'm very much for "when in Rome...."

As an aside in the UK the NMC wanted to make language proficiency a must for nurses (can't think why!!!) The EU said it was drisciminating to make nurses from mainland Europe take the test so now all nurses - even the native Brits have to take it!! I often wonder, looking at todays younsters, how many Brits fail :-)

bazzz

I imagine it depends where you're going to live. For example, one could quite happily live and function in Richmond, BC without speaking any English. It would probably make sense to expand the official languages of Canada to include those spoken by more than a certain proportion of the population. Certainly, it would make sense to add Chinese and Punjabi.

dbd33

Also, Tagalog and Farsi but, what about Italian? I believe Toronto is the third city for Italian speakers (after NYC and some place in Europe) and one could certainly live just in Italian but iI suspect it's in decline, is it worth bothering with it now?

RN1

Here's how it gets stupid though!! You can't have areas with langauge bariiers like that because that's asking for ghettos to be created. If the official language of a country is English or French then that's what you should speak fluently in order to emigrate there! NO ifs buts or maybes!!

bazzz

Seems you're not familiar with the official Canadian position on multiculturalism, or the reality in cities like Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal. Are you sure you're migrating to the right country for you?

It's not a "language barrier" if everyone in the area speaks the same language.

dbd33

That's how it is.

Remember that half the population of Toronto were born outside the country. If you go to Greektown you should speak Greek, Chinatown Chinese and so on. Otherwise, like me, you have to shop by pointing and gesturing. It's quite wrong to assume that a random person on the street knows either English or French.

bodgerx

I'd of thought spelling potential 'protential' may lose you a few marks in an IELTS test.

timu12

potential.....CEC applicant!

Biiiiink

Points off for you too!

bodgerx

Yeah, I knew I was asking for it when I wrote that.

That's a C in GCSE English for you...

Andrew Miller

My IELTS score on academic level is 8.5 in reading, speaking and listening and 7.5 in writing - all CSIC members, regardless origin and native language, were required to pass IELTS on academic level and score at least 7.5 in every skill.

Thus, no matter what you think I have proven my high proficiency in English at level required, which is much higher than level required from international students who want to enroll in Canadian university and well beyond what high proficiency is defined for PR applicants who only need to take general level of IELTS.

And sorry to disappoint you my friend, but many CSIC applicants originating from UK didn't make the language cut.

timu12

maybe becoming a lawyer was one of your options?

Andrew Miller

I have a law degree from US, but I don't practice as a lawyer and am not a Canadian Law Society member by choice - for number of legal, practical and business reasons (for example when advising in other than Canada jurisdictions) I decided almost 20 years ago to practice as consultant and didn't find any reason to change it since.

acer rose

So a letter from 'Outraged of Ontario' was published. Was this supposed to be indicative of the general sentiment amongst Canadians or was there some other point? Am I missing something? Is he an expert in immigration or a major political figure who will sway other politicians' votes?

Sadly, I recognise that there are many people in the UK who don't seem to have a good grasp of the fundamentals of the English language. I also appreciate that not everybody posting on an internet forum necessarily takes the same care over their sentence construction and grammar as they would in a test situation.

It is generally treacherous territory to comment on such things so it is ironic that you managed to construct your response (above) so poorly when boasting of your "high proficiency". After this and the first few sentences of post 16 here, I have to wonder just how representative of ability IELTS is.

Perhaps language ability should be linked to profession. I know several brilliant researchers with a unique approach to English who have been internationally successful.