Les Bons Mots: A Podcast about Language Learning · ACA

Le bilinguisme au travail! Journée des langues officielles 2025 (en français)

·21 min·1 clip

Britta welcomes listeners to Les Bon Noms and introduces the episode as part of the 2025 Official Languages Day moment in Canada. Johnson joins her and introduces himself from his role at ACA. The two frame the release as a bilingual gift, with this conversation in French and a companion episode in English about bilingualism in the workplace. They set the topic clearly around the use of English and French at work. The discussion does not stay abstract for long. It quickly turns to how official languages are used day to day. A central concern is hesitation. People worry about being judged when they speak their second language. The hosts make that discomfort explicit. They also place themselves in the same situation by speaking in their own second languages on air. That choice gives the conversation a practical, lived-in tone. It is not treated as effortless. It is treated as something that takes confidence and practice. From there, the episode moves into solutions. For organizations, the first point is support. Training should fit the professional context, not just teach language in a vacuum. The second point is communication. If training and tools exist, employees need to know about them through internal channels like an intranet. Visibility matters throughout the conversation. The hosts suggest bilingual openings at meetings. They also point to signage in both French and English. A Toronto office is used as a concrete example of how that can look. The episode keeps returning to the idea that people use a second language more readily when the environment makes that use feel normal. Leaders and managers are part of that environment. Employees are part of it too. The closing message is practical and direct. If a workplace wants more bilingual use, it needs encouragement, visible resources, and a culture that reduces fear rather than amplifying it. The episode ends by inviting listeners to reach out for custom language training and workplace solutions.

As heard by us

A practical look at how bilingual workplaces can make second-language use feel normal through confidence, visibility, and steady habits.

The discussion stays on a straightforward workplace problem: bilingual people can still hesitate to use a second language when they expect to be judged.

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Why you'd press play

You want French workplace-language advice that feels usable, not performative.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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