Being the Montreal Canadiens coach requires knowing how to parlé French

"Merci pour la question."

Canada is officially a bilingual nation, though most of its citizens aren't. The quote above was given recently by a conservative Canadian politician (sorry I don't remember which one) and pronounced in an English Canadian accent with no sense of savoir faire. Mon accent français est meilleur.

Randy Cunneyworth says he doesn't know much French, but if a reporter asked him a question, you would expect Cunneyworth to say in a decent accent, "merci pour la question." Making an attempt goes a long way.

Canada is a country where politicians know they can't run as leader of a political party without being bilingual (e.g., Robert Chisholm of the NDP). Cunneyworth isn't a politician, but he might as well be given his new status as interim coach of the Montréal Canadiens.

The experts will tell you than in visiting Montréal that speaking French initially does make a difference. Even an awkward bonjour does help. That difference is rather specific. "Hi, bonjour" is somehow much more insulting than "Bonjour, hi."

CBC commentator P.J. Stock, who lives in Montréal, pointed out that 22 of the 24 Stanley Cups were won by Anglophone coaches. Scotty Bowman's French was decent enough. However, most of those Stanley Cup wins by Les Habs came before the Quiet Revolution. Language means more in Quebec society than it did 50-60 years ago.

The rise in media outlets, TV being more prominent, and the longest drought between Stanley Cups in franchise history all contribute to Cunneyworth's Anglophone status being a bigger deal. The move is also about respect for the distinct society that is La Belle Province. French-speaking Quebecois see the federal government recently nominate a Supreme Court judge and a solicitor general that don't speak French.

While some Anglophones resent the French influence throughout Canada, Francophones resent attempts to Anglicize elements within the province. Right or wrong, some in Quebec see an Anglophone coach of their treasured Canadiens as a slap.

Cunneyworth is a former NHL player and played 5 seasons with Ottawa, including a stint as captain. Ottawa is a fairly bilingual city, between government functions and the fact that much of its metro area includes Quebec. If you lived in Ottawa for 5 years, your French would almost have to be better. This was his first season in Montréal as a coach, having coached the top minor league team at Hamilton, Ontario, so he hadn't spent much time in as intensive a bilingual city as Montréal.

If you are weak in a language, you aren't as likely to try unless you absolutely have to do so because you don't want to look foolish. This applies to tourists who aren't being quizzed on the results, so you can imagine what would happen if you were being videotaped and snarly blogs would comment on your French-speaking aptitude.

Still, Cunneyworth needs to try to learn a few basic sentences, and a simple accent to not sound so horrible.

Je comprends le besoin a parle Francais comme entraîneur de Canadiens Montréal. Je veux a parle Francais bien. Je ne parle pas Francais bien.

As you may recall, Claude Julien and Alain Vignault took a lot of questions in French during the Stanley Cup finals press conferences. Both Julien and Vignault got their start in Montréal. They know that working in Montréal requires being bilingual.

For the Canadiens on the ice, winning is what is on their minds, even if that hasn't translated so far, losing their first four games under Cunneyworth before defeating Ottawa last night 6-2. Having watched the team (on TV) in Chicago, they looked less than inspired.

The language dispute hasn't helped the team, but even the most ardent Francophone might not care if the team started winning. The truth is that Francophone fans of Les Habs want a coach that will win and speak French. They would prefer a coach that wins well and speaks French well. They will settle for a coach that wins well and speaks French comme si comme sa.

Comments

[Mario Toupin]

Well I wasn't sure what to expect when I saw the tittle, many anglophone media make fun of the.. unique situation that represents being coach of the Montreal Canadiens.

Its unique in the nhl, as to where elsewhere English is exclusive use, here it is not specially when dealing with OFF the ice things like interviews and fans. On the ice its all English as it should be. Off the ice however communication with fans is done most of the time in French, and the 30 or so reporters the coach and players see daily are mainly, but not exclusively French. Some people in Canada, and in the US reply of "Just learn English you @$@#$#@ frogs" just anger the folks more. I cannot see for example, the Yankees in baseball hiring a head coach who speaks exclusively Spanish, or Japanese the fans would call for the GM head on the spot I would think.

You are very right in expressing that someone who TRIES is very much better perceive than something who scuffs at you and say they don't speak French. Someone who tries shows respect for his audience and willingness to try.

This whole thing blew way up and over proportion with politicians getting mixed in and its a big thing for little. The fans wants a winning team, and as you say will overlook a passable French if the wins starts getting in.

To his defence, coach seems to have picked up on that and during the last interview mumble some lines in French. Coaching this team is the hardest in the NHL and im not sure he quite fully understood what it meant.

[Chad]

I'm glad you brought up the baseball analogy. You would expect a manager to know English, but a manager has a huge advantage if he knows Spanish. Then again, that is about the players.

As for Montreal, I understand the need to have a coach who is passable with French. If they had hired Mike Babcock or another successful Anglophone coach, fans wouldn't be as upset. It comes down to winning, and Cunneyworth is off to a rough start.

[Mario T]

Thats something more, they were successful french coach available, Bob hartley who won a stanley cup, Micheal Therien was also free, and some lesser known ones.

To have overlooked them is more of a slap even. Rumor mill is strong as to it being Patrick Roy, arguably the greatess goalie of the sport being looked at strongly for the job next year.

[Chad]

I hear Therien is a strong contender for the permanent position. Unless Cunneyworth pulls off a strong miracle, he won't be back, even if he speaks French as well as Geneviève Bujold.