Vancouver is often considered cosmopolitan and multicultural. However, one attribute does not necessarily imply the second. Cosmopolitan comes from the ancient Greek kosmopolitês, which means “citizen of the world,” whereas “multi” is a Latin prefix denoting many and therefore implying multiplicity. A cosmopolitan city is a city where everyone picks some parts of the different cultures existing in the city to create its own identity, whereas a multicultural city is a city where these different cultures just live together. Thus, it seems a city should be multicultural before being cosmopolitan. What about Vancouver? Cosmopolitan and/or multicultural? This experience is lived out in as many ways as the city has inhabitants. Here is one tale amongst so many others.
Getting lost in the streets of a city is an inescapable step for a traveler, be it on purpose or not. In order to lose yourself in Vancouver, you must experience its sounds, its tastes and its many languages. With so many cultures, you might sometimes wonder where you are. Rubbing shoulders with people with different outlooks is a reality here, and if someone assures you that he has not felt this diversity, watch out, he is probably a phony.
For instance, the numerous language schools are a good indicator of the diversity of the population. There you encounter a multitude of people: foreign students and established immigrants – even the majority of the teachers are not necessarily Canadian, and English is not their first language. You realize very quickly that most city-dwellers speak at least two languages, if not more. After only living here for two months, it feels like I have already traveled around the world several times via the language schools, the restaurants and the accommodations: Ireland, the Philippines, Ghana, Spain, USA, Japan, Saudi Arabia, Slovakia, Poland, Brazil, Syria, etc. The dynamism of Vancouver comes, to a large extent, from this cultural wealth.
This cultural capital provides fertile ground for creativity, which I used to create a present to a childhood friend who lives in France. What could be more caring than a birthday present from the entire world? That’s the appeal I made to more than 10 people to create this international gift – a birthday greeting in languages of the world, that is to say in their native language, and then in French. Finding them was not very difficult. It was rather easy actually – work, school, leisure activities. And, it is just this proximity that allows the cross-pollination of minds and leads to the birth of new ideas.
Multiculturalism is the co-existence of different cultures in the same location and it is this multiculturalism that makes me feel more cosmopolitan. Nonetheless, there is no guarantee that there will be a blending of cultures. It is that blending that would be advantageous to develop further here; in Vancouver’s case it is already well represented in the foodservice industry. Cultural diversity is certainly present, but cosmopolitanism might reside in that generation of children of immigrants and young adults full of hope that live in Vancouver today all the while retaining their original culture.
Translation by Barry Brisebois
