Growing Up Trilingual

Growing up with three languages was beneficial, but also drove home how important it is to maintain a sense of your heritage

- Félix Turcotte

Being raised trilingual in Saskatoon opened the doors to many opportunities in my life, from translating the different languages of my parents as a child (English, French and German) to allowing me to move overseas and live abroad as an adult. Today, many francophones in the mainly English-speaking Canadian Prairie provinces struggle to maintain their French-Canadian heritage, as English is the dominant language.

French immersion schools are rapidly gaining in popularity in these areas; however, institutions are oversubscribed (with classes of 30 upwards), facing budget cuts and struggling to keep up with demand in terms of teaching resources. To be accepted as a student at a French-only school, having a French parent is a must—of course, nearly all see the benefits of raising their children bilingual. But, like many of my peers, I’d virtually lost my ability to speak French by my 20s, as English became more relevant for me as I searched for work overseas.