I was at a reception the other evening to launch the National Conversation on Asia campaign in Canada. A lot of hype and an opportunity for various organizations to access funds for all kinds of activities, the net effect of which will be rather limited. The usual slogans are there, combining the genuine promotion of intercultural exchange with more self-serving agendas; “Canada is falling behind”, “we need to focus more on Asia”, “we need to embrace the idea of foreign state owned corporations buying up our resources” “we all need to speak more Asian languages” and the like.
It seems to me that we have a problem with a lack of “conversation” between recently arrived Asian immigrants and the rest of the Canadian population, but that is another question.
For a real conversation on Asia, or, at least, with Asians, join and build up LingQ!!
