L'article ci-dessous en anglais de CBC News semble donner une fausse image de l'affichage chez nous.

Depuis quand l'emploi de l'anglais dans l'affichage commercial est-il interdit au Québec ? évidemment le service anglais de Radio-Canada n'a pas fait les moindres recherches avant de diffuser ces sornettes.

Scott Horne
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B.C. city asked to require English on shop signs

Last Updated Thu, 09 Dec 2004 11:55:30 EST

RICHMOND, B.C. - A council committee in Richmond, B.C., wants shops and other businesses to be required to display English on their signs as well as Chinese.

The committee was set up to look into "intercultural issues" in a community where 40 per cent of residents claim Chinese heritage and many other ethnic cultures are represented.

It recommended the city bring in a new sign bylaw, on the theory that everyone in Richmond would feel more "included" if they could read the signs around them.

Many shop signs feature only Chinese characters at the moment.

"Our whole entire purpose is to make people in Richmond feel included, and it doesn't matter what ethnic background we have," said Shashi Assanand, who chairs the Richmond intercultural advisory committee.

"If there are people who can't read Chinese, we definitely would need to have English."

Danny Leung is the senior manager at the new Chinese-themed Aberdeen Mall, where the signs are in both Chinese and English.

He supports the proposed English-language sign bylaw, and goes further by suggesting that it restrict the size of Chinese characters on signs, especially in the city's centre.

"I think the signage is a little bit overkill, in terms of the Chinese characters," Leung said. "I think it should be neutralized a little bit, and make it more tourist friendly."

A spokesperson for Richmond's planning department said a bylaw requiring English on signs would likely be a last resort, and passed only after much discussion.

INDEPTH: Language in Quebec : http://www.cbc.ca/news/indepth/language/

The move is an interesting reversal of Canada's most famous sign law controversy.

In Quebec, the use of English is forbidden or limited on external business and store signs above a certain size as the provincial government strives to promote French as the primary language of work and retail life.

Written by CBC News Online staff
http://www.cbc.ca/story/canada/national/2004/12/09/richmond-signs041209.html

(Le 18 décembre 2004)