A bilingual election notice delivered to a home in the Lachine borough of Montreal on Sept. 29, 2026. Elections Quebec was ordered by a judge to provide them after the original cards were in French only. Photo by ohn Mahoney/MONTREAL GAZETTE files

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You may have had the experience, when travelling, of communicating via smartphone translation apps, of which there are now many. When we were in the Netherlands recently, a German-speaker asked for directions. When I said, in English, that I was sorry but I didn’t speak German he pulled out his phone, had me speak into it, read its translation of what I’d said, spoke back into it, had me read the translation of what he’d said and off we went, eventually figuring out how he could get where he wanted to go. Google Maps would have been a better bet for him but the phone app enabled communication despite our lack of a common language. 

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One thing we North Americans always notice about the Netherlands (and many other parts of Europe, too) is that seemingly everyone speaks excellent English, switches to English without hesitation, apparently has no qualms in doing so and yet retains a strong national identity. In the one instance in which a server didn’t switch to English, it turned out the young woman was from Brazil, was still acclimatizing linguistically and had thought we were Dutch.  

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How disappointing, then, after a relaxed linguistic interlude, to return home to Montreal and find it embroiled in yet another petty language controversy, this one about whether poll workers in next week’s provincial election may speak to voters in English. 

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After changes the current government made to the province’s language laws, election officials have instructed workers to respond to voters trying to speak English to them by asking two questions, in English: “Have you been declared eligible to get an education in English? Are you a member of a Native community?” 

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If you are eligible for education in English, which basically means your parents received their education in English, then you are an “historic anglophone,” which means, not that you deserve a plaque somewhere, but that you have an acquired right to, for instance, access the English-language parts of the Quebec government’s website — which so far is done on the honour system. 

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If the answer to either of the poll worker’s two questions is “yes,” then further communication in English is permitted. But if not, the conversation must proceed in French, with workers being instructed to say, in French: “I will speak to you in French, slowly, so as to respect the Charter of the French Language. You can ask me to repeat what I say if you don’t understand it.” This even if the worker speaks English or even has English as a mother tongue. 

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And if slow talk doesn’t get the person to understand, what then? Endless repetition? Maybe at gradually increasing volume — like the stereotypical American or British tourist who believes that speaking English louder will somehow make foreigners understand? The instructions don’t specify. 

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The courts have not addressed the legality of such foolishness but, after a lawsuit was brought, they did order election reminders to be printed in both English and French — we got ours earlier this week. They decided it was too late, however, to have other official election information translated and delivered by election day. The election ballots themselves will be in both languages, though candidates’ names don’t need translation and the spot where you put your X usually does stand out.