10 replies to this topic

[JAmotue]

Hey

I'm from BC and I want to move to Quebec in at least a year for school. I've been doing what I can to learn French but have run into two big problems. One: All I can find is programs to teach me Parisian French. Where I would much rather cut to the chase and learn Quebec French. Much more useful for my life in my opinion. Anyone that can speak Quebec French and is willing / can help me. I would really appreciate it.

Thank you much.

[Shwa]

Hey

I'm from BC and I want to move to Quebec in at least a year for school. I've been doing what I can to learn French but have run into two big problems. One: All I can find is programs to teach me Parisian French. Where I would much rather cut to the chase and learn Quebec French. Much more useful for my life in my opinion. Anyone that can speak Quebec French and is willing / can help me. I would really appreciate it.

Thank you much.

Hey what school are you going to?

I grew up in QC, in an Anglo school whose French courses were all Parisian or 'proper' French. Sort of like when I took English classes in Ontario, it was 'proper' English and not Cockney.

I would suggest that you learn Parisien French, then go to Quebec and listen and learn. There are several dialects in Quebec and some common slang. However, if you can speak the language - even rudimentary conversational Parisien, Quebeckers will fill you in on the rest.

[M.Dancer]

Eh, bonne chance!

[Scotty]

Hey

I'm from BC and I want to move to Quebec in at least a year for school. I've been doing what I can to learn French but have run into two big problems. One: All I can find is programs to teach me Parisian French. Where I would much rather cut to the chase and learn Quebec French. Much more useful for my life in my opinion. Anyone that can speak Quebec French and is willing / can help me. I would really appreciate it.

Thank you much.

Because learning French is such an oddball thing to do in Canada no one here has ever bothered to try and write any books or develop any courses to do it. Because of that, all the books and courses come from France and the U.S.(where, of course, learning French is much more important).

[Wild Bill]

Hey

I'm from BC and I want to move to Quebec in at least a year for school. I've been doing what I can to learn French but have run into two big problems. One: All I can find is programs to teach me Parisian French. Where I would much rather cut to the chase and learn Quebec French. Much more useful for my life in my opinion. Anyone that can speak Quebec French and is willing / can help me. I would really appreciate it.

Thank you much.

Good luck! I complained about this in school 50 years ago! I asked why in the name of Canadian unity were we Anglos being taught Parisian French? As you can imagine, I never got a good answer.

After high school I spent some time as a roadie for a rock band. We played a lot in Northern Ontario, in towns that were French. A few years later, I ran into my old school french teacher and he "parlez-vous"d at me. I spoke right back and right away he reproached me with "You've picked up a bad accent!" "I know!" I replied. "It's a CANADIAN accent!"

Unless you are fortunate enough to find some Quebecois friends you are essentially "snackered", my friend! It's just the way it is in Anglo Canada. It's like teaching English to someone from Trois-Riviere so that if he comes to Toronto he will sound like Winston Churchill. It just guarantees that we will NEVER sound like a unified country! We will ALWAYS sound "odd" to each other!

Molson Breweries has done more for Canadian unity than any board of education has done.

Edited by Wild Bill, 03 August 2011 - 09:42 AM.

[JAmotue]

well blast. I guess I will just need to go the the French Cultural Center here, and the Metis center. Thanks everyone.

[Oleg Bach]

What about Manderin? It might be a more profitable language to learn - It's amazing how NICE everyone is in regards to the poster that needs help with French - see - we don't hate French...so the French can shut up about language laws and seperation...What I see in this thread is mutual co-operation.

[Yukon Jack]

Hey

I'm from BC and I want to move to Quebec in at least a year for school. I've been doing what I can to learn French but have run into two big problems. One: All I can find is programs to teach me Parisian French. Where I would much rather cut to the chase and learn Quebec French. Much more useful for my life in my opinion. Anyone that can speak Quebec French and is willing / can help me. I would really appreciate it.

Thank you much.

Are you kidding?

When I came to Canada, alone, with no support, parental or otherwise, not knowing any English or French, I did what you should do: Apply yourself, like your life depended on it, as mine did.

Do you think I wanted to choose between Canadian or British/Queen's English? Did any of my contemporaries? We did the best we could, without begging anyone, including government, and so should you.

How old are you? When I came to Canada, I was eighteen.

Edited by Yukon Jack, 18 August 2011 - 02:20 PM.

[August1991]

Are you kidding?

When I came to Canada, alone, with no support, parental or otherwise, not knowing any English or French, I did what you should do: Apply yourself, like your life depended on it, as mine did.

Jmatoe, Yukon Jack has it right. Go to Quebec as if you were going to a foreign country and learn a new language.

(Simply take a few moments to appreciate that it is easy for you to do this since you are not going to a foreign country. Think further that we Canadians have done this longer than any European.)

----

Quebec French? Luxembourg French? As it happens, I just returned to Montreal (and its weird detours due to collapsing bridges) after being in Belgium where I discussed in a restaurant the differences between Spanish Spanish and South American Spanish, and French French and North American French. For good measure, I noted Scottish English and Brooklyn English.

Amongst Hispanophones, the end conclusion was that if Spaniards and Chileans speak well, they speak the same language.

----

I just spent a few days in Normandy. I enjoyed listening to their accent, and they mine.

Language aside, we Canadians still have a remarkable reputation in northern Europe.

Edited by August1991, 19 August 2011 - 02:29 AM.

[bill_barilko]

Learning 'joual' won't get you anywhere in the real world-talk to someone from French speaking Africa in joual and you'll get a blank stare nothing more-well maybe a smirk.

[Oleg Bach]

Canada has one great wealth and that is reputation - get real pissed off when our eletes squander what we have earned.