The languages of chemistry

BY RAFFY BOUDJIKANIAN

raffy.boudjikanian@transcontinental.ca

An informal survey of various companies in the West Island's pharmaceutical industry reveals they are mostly fully bilingual with a couple of exceptions, placing them at odds with the general findings of Statistics Canada's newly released language at work survey. The latter indicates English still predominates in the West Island for those surveyed, and non-official languages have become more popular in the Montreal area as a whole for employees.

"We do have a letter of agreement with the Office de la Langue Française (OLF) allowing us to work in English (in our research centre)," said Vincent Lamoureux, communications director for Merck Frosst, which has a head office, distribution centre and research centre in Kirkland. "The research centre is part of a global network," he explained, working and co-operating particularly closely with company divisions in the United States of America.

However, the official language at the head office and distribution centres is French, and any company documentation, whether aimed internally at employees or externally at business partners or clients of the company, is available in both of Canada's official languages, added Lamoureux.

That approach is similar to competitor Pfizer Canada's. "We're very much bilingual," said Rhonda O' Gallagher, communications director. Pfizer Canada's head office in Kirkland only handles marketing and administrative tasks, and so the language used is dependent on the preference of the client they happen to be dealing with. O' Gallagher said most clients in Quebec are francophone.

Statistics Canada's numbers suggest that in 2006, 4,625 workers out of 8,935 surveyed in Kirkland primarily used English while at work, and 2,910 said they used a non-official language, compared to only 1,165 that used French.

"The predominant language in Canada Schering Plough's Quebec offices is French," said Kent Hovey-Smith, head of communications. He said the company has always used French as an official language in Quebec. Schering Plough has a head office and distribution centre in Kirkland, and a manufacturing centre in Pointe Claire, employing about 600 people in the West Island altogether. "There's a certain amount of people who deal with our New Jersey offices that speak English," he said.

"We certainly do whatever we can to make sure that all terms are available in both languages," Hovey-Smith added about terms specific to the pharmaceutical industry.

"Naturally, we respect all the norms of the OLF," said Dorval-based Novartis communications director Sylvie Letendre. As Novartis' Dorval branch is now strictly administrative, she said, work is done primarily in French, and all documentation is bilingual.

In 2006, a language other than French or English was more popular for citizens of Montreal and West Island municipalities as a whole with 150,815 of those surveyed by Statistics Canada stating none of the official languages were what they used most frequently at work. However, West Island municipalities alone still favoured English, with 33,705 responding it was their language of choice versus only 17,815 stating a non-official language was. Altogether, 125,640 said they used English in Montreal and the West Island. French proved the least popular, both in combined West Island municipalities at 6,950 and overall at 68,,875.

Differences were significantly less dramatic on the provincial level, with 246,290 Quebecers stating English was their primary language at work, 237,775 expressing a preference for French, and 222,640 choosing a non-official language.