Des immigrants plus scolarisés, mais moins rémunérés

« Avec des taux de scolarisation largement plus élevés que la moyenne des natifs du Québec, les immigrants affichent des taux de chômage 2 à 3 fois plus élevés et d'importantes différences salariales », affirme le chercheur de l'IRIS, Mathieu Forcier. « Ces différences sont d'ailleurs plus marquées au Québec qu'au Canada. »

 Des résultats d'une recherche intéressante de l'IRIS.

McGill course: Study English pronunciation

You absolutely don't need the course I take at McGill if you read the following poem with no pronunciation problem:

Dearest creature in creation,
Study English pronunciation.
I will teach you in my verse
Sounds like corpse, corps, horse, and worse.
I will keep you, Suzy, busy,
Make your head with heat grow dizzy.
Tear in eye, your dress will tear.
So shall I! Oh hear my prayer.

Just compare heart, beard, and heard,
Dies and diet, lord and word,
Sword and sward, retain and Britain.
(Mind the latter, how it's written.)
Now I surely will not plague you
With such words as plaque and ague.
But be careful how you speak:
Say break and steak, but bleak and streak;
Cloven, oven, how and low,
Script, receipt, show, poem, and toe.

Hear me say, devoid of trickery,
Daughter, laughter, and Terpsichore,
Typhoid, measles, topsails, aisles,
Exiles, similes, and reviles;
Scholar, vicar, and cigar,
Solar, mica, war and far;
One, anemone, Balmoral,
Kitchen, lichen, laundry, laurel;
Gertrude, German, wind and mind,
Scene, Melpomene, mankind.

Billet does not rhyme with ballet,
Bouquet, wallet, mallet, chalet.Blood and flood are not like food,
Nor is mould like should and would.
Viscous, viscount, load and broad,
Toward, to forward, to reward.
And your pronunciation's OK
When you correctly say croquet,
Rounded, wounded, grieve and sieve,
Friend and fiend, alive and live.

Ivy, privy, famous; clamour
And enamour rhyme with hammer.
River, rival, tomb, bomb, comb,
Doll and roll and some and home.
Stranger does not rhyme with anger,
Neither does devour with clangour.
Souls but foul, haunt but aunt,
Font, front, wont, want, grand, and grant,
Shoes, goes, does. Now first say finger,
And then singer, ginger, linger,
Real, zeal, mauve, gauze, gouge and gauge,
Marriage, foliage, mirage, and age.

Query does not rhyme with very,
Nor does fury sound like bury.
Dost, lost, post and doth, cloth, loth.
Job, nob, bosom, transom, oath.
Though the differences seem little,
We say actual but victual.
Refer does not rhyme with deafer.
Foeffer does, and zephyr, heifer.
Mint, pint, senate and sedate;
Dull, bull, and George ate late.
Scenic, Arabic, Pacific,
Science, conscience, scientific.

Liberty, library, heave and heaven,
Rachel, ache, moustache, eleven.
We say hallowed, but allowed,
People, leopard, towed, but vowed.
Mark the differences, moreover,
Between mover, cover, clover;
Leeches, breeches, wise, precise,
Chalice, but police and lice;
Camel, constable, unstable,
Principle, disciple, label.

Petal, panel, and canal,
Wait, surprise, plait, promise, pal.
Worm and storm, chaise, chaos, chair,
Senator, spectator, mayor.
Tour, but our and succour, four.
Gas, alas, and Arkansas.
Sea, idea, Korea, area,
Psalm, Maria, but malaria.
Youth, south, southern, cleanse and clean.
Doctrine, turpentine, marine.

Compare alien with Italian,
Dandelion and battalion.
Sally with ally, yea, ye,
Eye, I, ay, aye, whey, and key.
Say aver, but ever, fever,
Neither, leisure, skein, deceiver.
Heron, granary, canary.
Crevice and device and aerie.

Face, but preface, not efface.
Phlegm, phlegmatic, ass, glass, bass.
Large, but target, gin, give, verging,
Ought, out, joust and scour, scourging.
Ear, but earn and wear and tear
Do not rhyme with here but ere.
Seven is right, but so is even,
Hyphen, roughen, nephew Stephen,
Monkey, donkey, Turk and jerk,
Ask, grasp, wasp, and cork and work.

Pronunciation -- think of Psyche!
Is a paling stout and spikey?
Won't it make you lose your wits,
Writing groats and saying grits?
It's a dark abyss or tunnel:
Strewn with stones, stowed, solace, gunwale,
Islington and Isle of Wight,
Housewife, verdict and indict.

Finally, which rhymes with enough -
Though, through, plough, or dough, or cough?
Hiccough has the sound of cup.
My advice is to give up!!!

Comment faire un papillon

Canadian party

In the beginning of our life in Canada, once we were invited for a visit by a Quebecois family; they said it would be a dinner in a home environment. A few other guests were invited, too. I must admit that we, Russians, love these kinds of ‘home-dinner-party’. Actually, it is in our culture.

As recommended, we bought a couple of bottle of wine, some chocolate, and I don’t even remember what else – it does not matter.

I should say that the way to their home took about one hour; so, when we showed up at their home I was a bit hungry.

Just to explain how it usually goes on in Russia: when everybody sits at the table, guests begin to eat and drink, and then the conversation starts. Wishing it was!

After hand-shaking and welcome kisses, the hosts gave us a tour of their home, represented to other guests and got us some Champaign. There were also some small pieces of food on the table aside. Not that much, I would say! And, you know what? We started a small talk, which was dragging on and on and on… How long? Maybe it was only my imagination but it seemed about one hour. Ah! On top of that! All that time we had been standing before we were finally asked to sit at the table.

So, I was drunk, exhausted, and starving to death!

Now, I see that the problem was in mismatch between my assumptions and expectations and the local traditions and customs of hospitality. They gave me the warmest welcome, but I could not enjoy it because I was not properly prepared.

It served me as a good example of intercultural communication conflict. After that, whenever I go for a dinner to a Canadian family, I eat in advance.

full of allusions

it is like a conundrum full of allusions to american and sometimes international cultural artifacts like events, movies, heroes and so on.

we are supposed to be larger educated and well informed, in other words -- enculturated -- to fully enjoy all these parodies, to estimate its multilayered structure.

i really love such sophisticated stuff: it motivates me to learn culture.

try to guess what i am talking about!

Epitome of American Humor: ‘Epic’ Daily Show Segment Blasts U.S. For Cutting Off UNESCO Funding

What I love about Americans that they do not take themselves too seriously.

I do not know this guy, but I am really impressed by his ability of making jokes with a dead-pan face!

Enjoy!

http://www.mediaite.com/tv/epic-daily-show-segment-blasts-u-s-for-cutting-off-unesco-funding/

Cross-gender communication

It is hard to imagine society itself without cross-gender communication, which is really important because men and women are still different not only biologically.

Considering this communication as a form of intercultural communication will help us to better understand the ways to develop related skills when speaking across genders.

A quick glance on the history of the modern human society can shed light on the questions why men and women speak differently and why language generally implies different roles for them. Obviously, it is consequences of the agricultural and industrial revolutions, patriarchate dominance, and some other important acting factors like religion, etc.

For a member of society, gender predefines belonging to a family group like wife or husband; therefore, in certain cases, an ascribed societal role can lead to an achieved role. During life, some roles can be changed, but behavior expectations to each role, formed by society norms and mores, generally stay the same.

The first place in life where a child begins to adopt these norms and expectations is the family in which he or she lives. On the other hand, the most important mean of communication is the language the family speaks. Language usage reflects the roles ascribed to men and women, and it is mirrored even in grammatical gender. Diversity of cultural and historical backgrounds has huge impact on forming gender specific aspects of every language.

For example, in Arabic, the question How many children do you have? sounds literally like How many boys do you have? The word ‘girl’ in German (Mädchen) is treated as neuter. In Russian, it is impossible to call some professions like blacksmith, carpenter, etc. as feminine. (In fact, in Russian, everything is possible to say, but it would be really awkward and funny.)

Another interesting phenomenon is the way of speaking that is commonly expected from men and women in a particular society. Not to make anyone blushing by giving examples, but ladies are not supposed to use some expressions and so on.

Moreover, in culturally mixed environments, like that in Canada, the situation at the family and society level can be more complex because of the different norms and behavioural patterns added by immigrants to the whole mosaic.

All in all, to speak effectively, to be understood correctly, to avoid risqué situations when it comes to cross-gender communication, it requires special linguistic practices and knowing the cultural background and context.

pain blanc maison

deuxième essaie

Sales letter: Partnership proposition on Wi-Fi Internet Access Point and VOIP solution for hotels

Buenos dìas Jose!

I know that you deal with IT solutions in Cuba, and so do I in Canada. This is why I believe my value proposition of partnership might be of your interest.

My name is Alex. For five years I have been leading a small family company in Montreal, Canada, that develops and implements an IT solution for hotels – “HotSpot”. Briefly, it is a comprehensive hardware/software solution, which allows hotels to provide their guests with Wi Fi Internet access on all their premises and a cheap VOIP telephony for international calls.

The system is very easy in installation: it requires only one working day for the hardware part (one central Wi-Fi router and one additional extender per each 100 square meters) and one day for the software installation and testing.

This solution is in high demand in Canada; consequently, our business goes very well. In 2011 we sold more than one hundred of new installations and achieved our sales goal of one million CAD. As to Cuba, we have already implemented one “HotSpot” at “Freyer Blau Costa” in Holguin and can use this hotel as a good reference. Given that the hospitality industry in Cuba is one of the most developed, I estimate the local market potential very high; for the first year, the target revenue might be set as much as $200,000.

So, as you can see, the opportunity is really interesting. However, it may be working only in a form of partnership. First of all, due to the Cuban government regulations that restrict the local market from foreign businesses. Also, from the marketing perspective, it would be much more efficient to collaborate with a Cuban partner. So, I need such a service provider, who knows the language, customs, traditions, and cultural norms, and who could build trust and establish strong relationship with the hotel chains’ management by representing “HotSpot”.

I am ready to make initial investments in the marketing activities and guarantee you a technical support including training. We will be signing a partner agreement each year by setting the annual quota together with an aggressive commission plan. Basically, it means that if you exceed your target, you get an agreed percent of commission plus an exponentially growing bonus. More detail about the prices, commission rate, and the product you can find attached.

I am planning to be in Havana in the beginning of this April. So, please let me know before the March 15th if we could meet there to discuss our eventual partnership, of course, if you will find this proposition interesting to you.

I would be really happy, too, if you could come to Montreal to visit the company’s office and my home.

Please feel free to ask me any questions.

With respect,

Alex

Non-verbal communication

The significance of non-verbal communications is really high; certain researchers estimate the meaning of a message transmitted non-verbally up to 90%. However, there is no need to be a scientist to make the same conclusion, especially, when it comes to intercultural communications where we deal with different behavioral patterns.

All the three videos are full of non-verbal patterns that can be divided into the following categories (in fact, there are more than that but just to name a few): touch, eye contact, volume, posture, gestures, paralanguage, proximity. Some of them, like closing the lips with the index finger to call for silence or moisture in eyes, are universal and common for people regardless of nationality, gender, and age. The others are very peculiar and, I believe, specific to particular cultures, like raising the little finger with back of hand.

Two Greek men stay very close to each other: one, amused, with his hands in his pockets, constantly looking at his friend’s eyes; the other obviously persuading his friend with expressive gestures, speaking very fast, a bit rocking and finally even sticking out his tongue!

In the Brazilian adventure we see a timid lad who clears his throat just to be brave in face of a celebrity. But he was not so reserved in the car before, when the laughing girl touched his head: he spoke with raising inflection, surprised and amused. Later, in the room, they shook hands twice in an interesting manner. He lowered his tone when he started speaking Portuguese to the girl next to him, evidently, to clarify the situation with his inadequate English. Another interesting moment was then that girl pointed him with her index finger. I think this gest is not appropriated in other cultures, but I understood very easily what she wanted to say when she ‘touched’ her heart with the hand – to excuse her.

In the Arab movie, on the contrary, we see a much bigger distance between people and more formal way of communication. What I can highlight is that the M.C.’ behavior, in particular, his respectful posture with the angled torso inclined towards the singer and his manner of reading a poem – he did it like a mullah singing his prayers. From my point of view, the guests seem being treated more than just with respect, but as it should be in a high society.

All in all, I reckon that this theme is interesting enough to be learned more because language itself is not sufficient to communicate efficiently in international environments. I understood the context and the main ideas of all these three videos, even though I neither speak Greek, Arab, nor Portuguese.

Report on a Bulgarian community member’s reflection about Hofstede’s dimensions

This report is based on the Montreal community member interview conducted in terms of English course CEEN-402-781 January 27th, 2012. Its goal is to discover the interviewee’s opinion on Hofstede’s four dimensions describing intercultural differences attributed to each country: Power distance, Individualism, Uncertainty avoidance, and Masculinity.

I selected to interview a friend of mine, which belongs to the Bulgarian Montreal community, because this culture – having the same Greek Orthodox and Eastern European cultural roots – is very similar to Russian one. On the other hand, we speak different languages and have many other differences in historical background, economic and political situations, etc. So, it is interesting to find out subtle differences in regards to the four mentioned-above criteria.

Stanislav, 28, lived in Sophia, the capital of Bulgaria; he is married to a Bulgarian woman; he is a programmer; he has been living in Montreal almost two year by the moment.

The interview was conducted at the Stanislav’s apartment in a relaxing atmosphere where two friends can drink a bit of wine and share their opinions in a free form. Some important results of this one hour dialogue are summarized below.

Being provided with my short introduction, Stanislav was very interested and excited about the Hofstede’s approach to discovering intercultural differences. He believes that the modern Bulgarian society belongs to the low power distance class. Although the Bulgarian king (tsar) came from the emigration back to the country and gained some popularity and power via democratic elections, the equality is seen as a common value. Laid aside the corruption aspect, we can say that the upward mobility is not limited due to some power or wealth factors.

The degree of individualism depends on the place where people live. Say, in the countryside people are more collectivists than in the cities. In general, Stanislav estimates this score as 50/50 saying with a smile ‘there are troubles between three Bulgarians.’

I asked him a few of very tricky questions to evaluate their society’s uncertainty avoidance: what a person would choose between calling the police and staying away if he or she were a witness of a crime; between giving a bribe and staying within the law to save a friend from prison, etc. Based on his answers, the Bulgarians tend to count on themselves more than on the police and the legal system.

It is very rare to see women among bus drivers in Bulgaria; nevertheless, women are dominant among trolleybus drivers! Little by little women become more numerous at manager positions. For example, two last Sophia’s mayors are women: Maria Boyadzhiyska, Yordanka Fandakova, the second term.

Imagining the situation when he should choose between two candidates for his own IT business, he would hire a woman because of the female way of thought that can make more profit nowadays.

Among other interesting information Stanislav explained how difficult it was to him to change his head movement when he moved to Canada: in Bulgaria nodding means shaking one’s head no.

Unfortunately, I had no time to interview his wife, Bella; otherwise, the results would have been more accurate. However, based on the Stanislav’s answers, we may consider Bulgaria as a culture with low scores in Power distance and Uncertainty avoidance, average degree of Individualism, and still high score in Masculinity.

All in all, it was an outstanding experience that enriched my interpersonal skills and gave me a reason to introspect my own Russian culture.

Language as a key to culture

I believe that the term ‘culture’ could be defined as a set of abstract ideas (religious beliefs, moral principles, intellectual concept, philosophies etc.) that are commonly adopted by a social group and used by this group – consciously or not – as a basis for its behavioral patterns.

Of course, this paradigm is much larger but I try to highlight the most important part of it to understand the difficulties one may encounter when it comes to intercultural communication. Evidently, it is not a big problem to adopt your own culture even without understanding it – just do what everybody does around you, and everything will be okay. A child is capable of exploring the world, true; however, the most important information that finally forms culture is provided to him or her by means of language. This is the point: language is a medium of culture; therefore, it is a key to understanding any culture, even your own.

As to the principles of my culture, they are very easy to name. Briefly, I am Russian. Russia is a mix of regional cultures, different languages and religions, so am I. I am not religious but I was brought up on the Russian Orthodox Church and Soviet moral principles. Sometimes, it sounds like an oxymoron but it is true, nevertheless. I can spend more time dreaming about a bright future than doing something for it. I can be a bit unpredictable and spontaneous (I am not sure if it is either related to culture or personality). I am very open with my friends but usually aggressive to strangers. I tend to underestimate myself. I do not really care about feelings – more about thoughts and deeds. I try to walk the talk and take one’s word.

Given that Russia is very similar to Canada in many ways, I easily settled in Montreal’s multinational environment. Despite the city is a citadel of immigrants from the every corner of the world; I can distinguish Canadian culture from all the rest. I see that the culture was founded a few hundred years ago by early settlers with French, English, Irish, and Scottish roots has now been shaped by
newcomers with different, sometimes even opposite, cultural patterns in mind, and I see the difference– it is huge.

I share Christian values; so, I accepted the majority of cultural patterns in Canada. No doubt, I have some problems understanding the differences I have been encountering in the new environment. Some of them come from the Canadian society’s norms, like those in the part of homosexual tolerance – I am not a homophobe but I cannot accept it as a norm. Others relate to communicating with immigrants from other countries.

The most important for any immigrant is to get a job but it is impossible without the ability to get along with people from different cultures. Sure, I am talking about the language – French, first of all. I had spent eight months learning it before I landed my first job. To be honest, I got my first job in an American company in the second week – in English, of course, but I resigned after a three weeks' training because… because I was ashamed of my English! Now it is in the past, and I communicate very well on business topics but I still quail when it comes to small talk, or, more important for me, humor and f-words.

To summarize, my priorities are the Canadian/Quebecois/Montreal cultural nuances, the Chinese approach to business communication, and the art of joking without making anybody offended.

Sunset on Cuba

J'aimerais partager cette belle expérience de trois minutes avec vous. (Suggéré de regarder en HD)

I would like to share this sunset with you. 3 minutes only. (suggest to watch in HD)