THREAD : I voted today, and I made sure to ask for service en français. As a born and bred bilingual NBer (maman is franco, dad is anglo - they communicate just fine, by the way, and are still married), I tend to switch to English to make things easier. 1/?

I make the switch even in situations where not only is it my right to get my service in French, but where great pains go to make this service available.
Today, by asking for service in French, I voted twice. Once on a ballot, once by using the services available to me. 2/?

I know a lot of francophone and bilingual NBers who do the same as me - switch to English at the merest sign of an accent or discomfort - but by doing so, we're just proving that most people can just learn English, switch languages and boom! There go the francophones' rights. 3/?

So if you, like me, are a francophone/bilingual NBer and believe it is important for francophones to have access to services in their language, make sure to exercise your right to service in French when given the option. This does at least two things. 4/?

Thing the first is that it shows the Powers That Be that there is a genuine need for continued quality service offered in French everywhere in the province. To quote many an unlearned pre-teen, if you don't use it, you'll lose it. 5/?

Thing the second is that it will - hopefully - help anglophones learning French to get over their linguistic insecurity, a phenomenon that plagues many a francophone NBer. 6/?

Imagine you're learning German and desire to be fluent, and you have German-speaking friends. You're all hanging out one night, and you ask for a drink in Deutsch, perhaps a bit awkwardly.
Your friends switch to English right away because it's easier... 7/?

Easier than what? Watching you stumble? Helping correct you so you can improve? Going slowly to make sure you're getting it right?
That's what we're doing as francophones who immediately switch to English - we're robbing people from learning and practicing French. 8/?

All this to say I voted today in the Fred-North riding and got service in French, and though it was a bit wobbly, I truly appreciated it.
Un gros merci to the poll workers who put themselves out there in their second language. This franco was happy to see you use it. FIN

POSTSCRIPT - To anyone who might want to point out the irony of my tweeting this entirely en anglais, a French version of this thread is a-brewin'.