That definitely works both ways! They hate hearing quebec french over there.

The languages are almost identical, it's just a different accent and a few idiomatic differences. In my opinion parisian french sounds much better / smoother than quebecois french, though I'll probably still do my immersion in Quebec City or Montreal (reason = $$). I'm not sure if this is true, as I've never been to Quebec, but according to my prof the quebecois (or rather, the parti quebecois) go to great lengths to remove any trace of anglo influence. Example: when I was in France, if I wanted to buy a hot dog, I would say « Je veux un hotdog ». Apparently in Quebec I would say « Je veux un chein chaud », the literal translation of "a hot dog".

Meh, probably a useless bit of information, I just find that a bit silly on the part of quebecois politicians, all the language laws they have in place.

That definitely works both ways! They hate hearing quebec french over there.

The languages are almost identical, it's just a different accent and a few idiomatic differences. In my opinion parisian french sounds much better / smoother than quebecois french, though I'll probably still do my immersion in Quebec City or Montreal (reason = $$). I'm not sure if this is true, as I've never been to Quebec, but according to my prof the quebecois (or rather, the parti quebecois) go to great lengths to remove any trace of anglo influence. Example: when I was in France, if I wanted to buy a hot dog, I would say « Je veux un hotdog ». Apparently in Quebec I would say « Je veux un chein chaud », the literal translation of "a hot dog".

Meh, probably a useless bit of information, I just find that a bit silly on the part of quebecois politicians, all the language laws they have in place.

True, they do apperently hate it.

And yes, there are many language laws and debates over said laws. But, at least as I can rememeber, have never heard anyone say "je veux un chien chaud". Typical Quebec french is littered with anglicisims, mostly in an attept to sound cool, or something.

Typical meal order at a fast food joint:
"deux hot dogs, steame avec une poutine pour moi et un hamburger et frites pour lui"

Conversation about the weekend:
"eh, q'est ta faite sur la weekend?"
"ahh, pas beaucoup, j'ai fume beaucoup du pot"

And every forth word in Quebecois rap is english. It's kind of sad, especially when they rap about seperation from "les pitit crisse d'anglais". lol

You won't be able to speak with a québécois accent, trust me. Any english speaker speaking french have an accent easily recognizable, no matter how fluent they are.

If you wished to have any chance of getting the accent, you're too late. If you're under 15 or 16 and learning a language, your brain is still capable of catching up the accent correctly when you come to speak it, but past that age, it becomes almost impossible.

Trust my experience. I started learning english when I was 11, and I did notice that the growth of my accent (If I can call it so) that I had since then stopped completely when I was around 15 years old. My english accent didn't change since then, even thought I had english classes the whole time to practice it.

Don't even think about being able to write decently anytime soon. I don't want to discourage you, but when it comes to writing, our grammar and spelling system is just so broken. I still make more mistakes in french than in english when it comes to writing.

Don't even think about being able to write decently anytime soon. I don't want to discourage you, but when it comes to writing, our grammar and spelling system is just so broken. I still make more mistakes in french than in english when it comes to writing.

You just discouraged me. :(

There is apparently a cut-off for accent-less speech in a foreign language, but it's around the age of 20, not 15-16. And even then, I think it's just that it requires more effort to reduce or eliminate the accent. Like, I began studying Russian at 19, and I've been told I have a very good accent, better than most anglophone Russian speakers. Apparently it sounds like an accent that certain people in the Caucasus have, though the standard Moscow accent is what I'm going for. I can definitely hear where I need to improve...I'm getting there.

And I recently began studying Italian using Pimsleur. Since you're being exposed just to sound, it's really a matter of mimicking well. The main reason people have difficulty with the accent is because they have too much written exposure, and they then anglicize the pronunciation of all the words they see.

I also disagree with your assessment about writing. You have to become accustomed to the "silent" letters, but patterns emerge fairly quickly.

Anyways, French is a very difficult language to speak and understand. It requires more muscle work than English to speak (thus, anglophones have to exert quite a bit of energy to speak well and build strength), and I find that the liaison makes it rather difficult to distinguish between words. And of course, the biggest problem: there's the tendency of francophones (in Europe, not so much Quebec) to refuse to speak French with you if they know a little English, and can recognize your accent. In Quebec you'll find a lot more enthusiasm about speaking French, though unfortunately, you'll also find many people who speak with the nearly unintelligible accent (compared to Standard French).

So, to sum up my thoughts on French: The past ~4 years of my life have been pretty involved with French, both linguistically and culturally. I'm personally not too interested in it anymore, mainly since the people turned me off from it. I have passive use of it for the most part, but I generally don't waste energy speaking it. (ie. here in Montreal, I often end up being spoken to in French, and replying in English; it's kinda fun actually) Still, it's good to know. It's not too difficult a language in terms of grammar and vocabulary though, and there's quite a few great French movies, so if you get the urge and momentum to study it...I approve.

It's not too difficult a language in terms of grammar and vocabulary though, and there's quite a few great French movies, so if you get the urge and momentum to study it...I approve.

Cause we were all waiting for your approval, DerDrache.

lol

But really, excellent post.

Watch Bon Cop, Bad Cop

Quebecois slang

tabarnak
calisse
osti de fife
Ferme Ta geule

Watch Bon Cop, Bad Cop

Hell yeah!

Kinda stereotypical, but a fucking awesome movie.

You could listen to Radio Canada, the French cbc, http://www.radio-canada.ca/index.shtml If it's anything like the English cbc it shold have live radio streams, podcast and some video.

So you could give that a try. It'll likely be the best free Quebec media you can find.

yeah but those people talk like true frenchies,
they are not representative of the real quebec accent

Edit: better: http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=Lu9Fcz0D7kI&feature=related
(It's about emo kids that get ''mugged'' at school and other styles)
its pretty funny

I don't know what to tell you man, I'll still trying to learn French so I don't really know all that well. But I know that studio is out of Montréal so I thought they'd have some people with "the real quebec accent" Maybe try looking for quebec podcast amid at younger people. I know their are some kicking around, can't remember anything off the top of my head though.

I want to add:
Personally, I think that the France accent sounds SO MUCH better than the Quebec accent and I'm from quebec. Ours has become a kind of mix between english and french, which makes it ugly, even thought we have as much english slangs than the french.

Haha, not ugly, unique :P

Is there actually a difference between quebec french and french french? Not accents but words they use.

Some words (in the same way that British and Australian people have some different words for things), but otherwise, they're the same.

Some words (in the same way that British and Australian people have some different words for things), but otherwise, they're the same.

I wanted to know which words specifically.

I wanted to know which words specifically.

Google.

Québec French is like Texan English.

I know because I've had French teachers and I've had Québec teachers, and the accent is quite distinct.

I don't have enough time to list a lot of examples, but Québec French is more lazy. Like: "Je ne sais pas", while very accurately pronounced in Parisian French, would sound like "J'sais pas". Also when you're saying words where the A sounds like it does in "pas", in France it's more "AH" and in Québec it's more like "UH".

If you go to Québec you should be able to pick it up quite quickly if you can speak French. It might not be something you want though.

I don't have enough time to list a lot of examples, but Québec French is more lazy. Like: "Je ne sais pas", while very accurately pronounced in Parisian French, would sound like "J'sais pas". Also when you're saying words where the A sounds like it does in "pas", in France it's more "AH" and in Québec it's more like "UH".


Yup, very true.

@ Cordova: I dont know. If you speak French like you get taught at school here in Belgium, you'll have to say 'Je ne sais pas', but most people in France will shorten it. In fact, most of the times, they dont say the 'ne', and shorten the 'Je' (J'sais pas)

Also, people in France tend to say 'Ouias' instead of 'Oui'.
At least, for as far as i know...

But on the other side, Parisians are known for their accurate pronunciation

Well I've never been to France so I wouldn't know.

@ Cordova: I dont know. If you speak French like you get taught at school here in Belgium, you'll have to say 'Je ne sais pas',

What you don't get taught in belgium is the difference between "Je ne sais pas" and "Je ne peux pas", people just use both randomly.

What you don't get taught in belgium is the difference between "Je ne sais pas" and "Je ne peux pas", people just use both randomly.
But "sais" and "peux" mean completely different things. That makes no sense. :(

Most people who speak Parisian French pronounce "Je (ne) sais pas" as "Chai pas", actually. The accents definitely are distinct, but I wouldn't say the difference is in laziness. If anything, the Quebecois seem to make very odd exaggerations of sounds, in addition to having certain pronunciations that are different altogether. (ie. the "eur" is pronounced like ahr in Quebec. "Joueur" sounds like "Joo-arr", etc.

Anyways, my analogy: You know South Park's exaggerated portrayal of the English Canadian accent (ie. quirky, ridiculous)? Imagine that, but in French, and times 5, and that's what Quebecois French is like. Or, just in terms of the difference between the Parisian and Quebecois accents...the Quebecois accent is like some strong Scottish accent in comparison to American English.

And I must say, the difference between the accents doesn't bother me...it's just that Quebec French is so goddamn ugly. To each his own, of course, but hearing Quebecois people speak makes me want to shit on the trottoir.

To each his own, of course, but hearing Quebecois people speak makes me want to shit on the trottoir.

lol45

I'm sorry, but why in the FUCK WOULD YOU WANT TO APPEAR TO BE A QUEBECQUEER?

SRSRLY?

Quebecois =/= french

I was about to give you the useful tip that Quebec doesn't use nosotros or vosotros (Can't remember which). Then I realized that I was thinking of Mexico and Spain so you can just go ahead and disregard what I just said.

Or you could have just not posted this.

Or you could have just not posted this.

Yeah, really.

I was about to give you the useful tip that Quebec doesn't use nosotros or vosotros (Can't remember which, but I can remember my first time in bed with my father). Then I realized that I was thinking of Mexico and Spain so you can just go ahead and disregard what I just said.

Unknown Member is obviously a stupid mother-fucker.

Also, I can't really remember who said it, and don't feel like going back, but someone said that Canadian French is mixed with English too much...well, Modern English is a mix of Old English(it's not just a fucking writing style) and French...so there really isn't much English getting into the mix.

Unknown Member is obviously a stupid mother-fucker.
I agree wholeheartedly, but you still don't have the right to say that yet, New Arrival. Shut up.

Unknown Member is obviously a stupid mother-fucker.

Also, I can't really remember who said it, and don't feel like going back, but someone said that Canadian French is mixed with English too much...well, Modern English is a mix of Old English(it's not just a fucking writing style) and French...so there really isn't much English getting into the mix.


Ironically enough, he's not completely wrong. The canadian french use "nous-autres" sometimes.

Example: when I was in France, if I wanted to buy a hot dog, I would say « Je veux un hotdog ». Apparently in Quebec I would say « Je veux un chein chaud », the literal translation of "a hot dog".

Stupidest thing I ever heard. The one who told you that is an idiot. Actually here in Quebec we thought Parisians were the ones doing that.

Also, if I have noticed something, it's that people from Quebec can easily fake the french accent, although french parisians can't fake the Québec accent.

I've never been to Quebec, however i've lived in France before, and talked to French Canadians as well as "native" French people before.

There is definitely a difference in accent and speech, however it's not that easy to pick out for me. I can speak French pretty well, but to actually fully hear the difference is tricky. This is perhaps complicated by the fact I spoke to mainly younger, more urbane French Canadians, who perhaps don't have quite such a strong accent as "papi" in the village might.

The best way I can explain the difference is this sort of clouded "twang", which reminded me of the South of France, slightly. You get this sorta "eh euahh..." start to sentence, which with the guys anyway can make the guys seem like they talk a bit deeper and slower. Maybe that was just people I met though.

Also, I found there was sometimes a noticeable lack of that kinda flowery twang that some French have, particularly accentuation of the ends of words. An example which springs to mind is "jolie", which might change more from "Joul-ieee" to "Joal-ie". Haha.

Anyyyyway, they would definitely notice accent in French Canada, especially if you went out to lil' villages where anyone from the local area would stand out, orally. In Montreal though, i'm sure you'd be mixed up in a huge melange of accents, including of course... English. I would think French Canadians view people making at least some effort with speaking French as pretty essential, perhaps more even than the French (and they certainly can expect it!!) I guess i'm just assuming this from the way that it seems French Canada is really quite under-represented and respected within, and outside of Canada... for a variety of reasons.

Shittttt I wana go to Montréal now!