Canadian French for Tourists - Visit Quebec

[@missj.4760]

If you ask for bécosse instead of toilette (bathroom), people will laugh (in a friendly manner) as this word is not really used anymore and when it is used, it is in a very familiar way. Fun fact: the word bécosse comes from the English words back house.

[@pilote111]

I was about to write the same comment lol 😂

[@chantalt9431]

I wal also abut to write de same comment lolll

[@jdmitaine]

Thank you so much, a little respect goes a long way, we Quebecers will bend backward to accomodate and help... people need to be aware there is still a lot of francophone bashing and many anglocanadians looking down on the majority of francophones in Quebec, particularly in Montreal... so if you make the minimal effort we will so appreciate it.... Very comprehensive and complete informations you are sharing here... again thank you loads

[@francesmcbride4592]

@@jdmitaine I moved to Montreal a year ago and I have to say this is so true ❤️ learning Quebec French has been so much fun and I love getting to know more about people when I speak the language they grew up with! I applaud you Quebecers for your kindness and enthusiasm about this wonderful dialect, even when my French is still quite lacking haha

[@rino7789]

Je suis Americain mais je comprends le Francais tres bien. Merci Wolters!!! J'adore le Quebec!

[@hyunjinki1995]

Euh, et pourquoi t’adore le Québec? Exprimez-vous ta réponse. Expliquez-moi Merci d’avance

[@JackMediaComments]

Thank you! I was pulled over before the border crossing hyperventilating that I might accidentally pronounce an unvoiced letter, this helped.

[@Happytravellerkimmy]

"Salut" (sah-loo)- good for saying hello or good-bye any time of day!

[@BrandonLeeBrown]

I studied French at university in Belgium. one professor told the class that she went to Canada and when she would say goodbye in French, the Canadians would say, "bonjour" for goodbye, but she thought they were saying hello again and would respond with bonjour and shake their hand. Most French Canadian places I've been in Canadian place have been outside of and away from Quebec. Most all French communities are along the southern border of Canada and very few are far north of the border. In Belgian French salut is hello and goodbye, but in Flemish, salut is only for goodbye, like ciao in English. I think we were told that Canadians use bonjour any time of day too, but I'm not sure about that.

[@francoisjutras6481]

Awesome video Thx from a Québécois

[@woltersworld]

Merci!

[@alex0589]

You forgot "Tabarnak!" (Tah-Bar-Nack) for when you hit your little toe on hotel furniture. That's how you become a real local.

[@bisayangdako109]

i love ur way how u teach us these canadian french words sir 😊 thank u ..i'll subscribe now, hope to learn more words ❤

[@zekharye1]

When I lived in Montreal in the 1980s I remember asking servers in restaurants for “la facture” and not “l’addition” at the end of a meal.

[@cassandrakapasi]

Yup. We don't say l'addition that's more France french

[@effie-Toronto]

@@cassandrakapasi That is real french in France my dear

[@alex0589]

true but most people will understand exactly what you need

[@johnpapadopoulos1647]

Before we and half a million others moved out of Quebec, we would ask the waitress "can we have our bill please". There was no need to talk in french! LOL

[@cassandrakapasi]

@@effie-Toronto uh yes im quite aware... Im speaking as a Quebequer that's not something we say..

[@1999maxwell]

Probably don't start with "bonjour,", it can make people think you're a French speaker and cause problems. (in my experience at least) Definitely always good to know some french to lighten the load though

[@cathleenrichards3841]

When I would go to QC (haven’t been in 10 hrs), I would say “bonjour, hello”. Everyone seemed to understand that I probably would prefer English, if possible.

[@ksl4688]

Votre français est très bon Mark !! 👍😉

[@denisplouffe514]

Je vous remercier pour vos efforts. Comme Canadien j’adore le Quebec.

[@danlyle531]

2:05 I don't know how true this is, but I've heard that in Canada, they use "la facture" for the bill/check in a restaurant, whereas in France they use "l'addition", and "la facture" is only a bill as in a utility bill

[@SuperCharles22]

yes we say "la facture" most of the time but saying "l'addition" works too

[@simonrancourt7834]

Both work.

[@cassandrakapasi]

Very true

[@Booboonancy]

Yes, that made me chuckle a bit. It is “la facture”. “L’addition” is very French but of course it is understood, not a problem.

[@simonrancourt7834]

@@Booboonancy I'm a 12th generation Québécois and I always ask for "l'addition".

[@MassiveWarfarePlayer]

Thank you for this video. I'm planning a trip to Montréal in January and I want to at least appear to be trying to speak French lol

[@andreamalloy6266]

Thank you so much for this- I love trying to speak at least a bit of the language in any country I visit 😀

[@TheMadagenais]

You would never say ‘Où sont les bécosses ?’ to a stranger, including to a restaurant or bar server. ‘Bécosse’ is the equivalent of ‘crapper’ in English. You keep that term for private conversations

[@jacquelinerichard2540]

Je ne pensais pas que « bécosse » était encore dans notre langage 🤣

[@TheMadagenais]

@@jacquelinerichard2540 Vous n’avez visiblement pas de beau frère qui, après quelques bières, a besoin d’aller là où le Roi va à pieds 🤣

[@rayvstriangle]

Was wondering if someone mentioned it already! Saying the equivalent of "Where's the shitter" might get you an awkward smirk from locals and hopefully a correction if the person is kind enough. :)

[@Jackir007]

@@TheMadagenais oui oui! mais pas "en public" et aux touristes... :)

[@joanignasi91]

I was confused about what he was saying, since he didn't put any subtitles for that part. Thanks for clarifying. I've never heard of that term as a non-canadian french speaker.

[@efortin9543]

Wow je suis québécois, tu parles très bien ! Tu es le bienvenue pour nous visiter quand tu le désires, merci de parler de notre belle province

[@woltersworld]

Merci!!!

[@michellemay1186]

''Bécosse''..... meaning ''Backhouse'' a term english ..... popular backtime!

[@carminasmith7745]

Best video ever, simple and easy 🫶🫶

[@jkinnear81]

I'm glad you love our city. Hope to see you guys back here sometime.

[@xGoodOldSmurfehx]

The mentality in Quebec is switching to English to accommodate the tourists, if you DO want to practice your French you NEED to explain that to pretty much anyone you speak to every time Some people thought this was people in QC being kind of snobbish and "you cant speak French so ill speak English for you" but thats really not correct, in the overwhelming majority of cases its just a desire to accommodate you and communicate with you comfortably and just Quebecers being nice AKA being Canadian Its also generally much easier for a Quebecer to communicate stuff to you in English than it is for you to do to them in French

[@ponfed]

I'm french Québécois and I had anglophones wanting to practice their French and being frustrated that we switch to English. I try to be mindful of that when interacting with tourists or expats. Feel them out and see when they're trying hard to speak frency.. like really practicing. Instead of switching to English, I just slow down a tiny bit and let them work it out. It's a small thing, but people trying to learn a new language, whatever the language, it's something to encourage regardless of where you are. I learned a bit of Catalan before going to Barcelona and I really appreciated the way they would be patient with me while I was trying to work through a sentence or an expression. I try to pay it forward.

[@TheReverses78]

That's where you're downfall fall is cuz they think they can get away with english in Quebec, They don't do that in France cuz they get put in their place!

[@JeffinBville]

Visiting Cap Gaspé... Locals gather along the bay to watch minke whales do their thing but more to meet and gossip. And it's all French all the time until their kids get rowdy and then you hear, "RICHARD ! CUT THAT OUT!" So I asked a women, in my rather rudimentary French, why they switched to English and the woman told me that her children ignore them when they're admonished in French but that English gets their attention, that they've learned it primarily from television. Anyway it is true, the further you get away from Montreal the more you will need to speak French - unless you're speaking to younger people. But even then...

[@inspired.by.triumph]

Don't ask for the "bécosse", it's toilette... People might give you a weird look if you say "bécosse"...that one made me laugh. "Bécosse" it's a Outhouse... we don't have that anymore ! Everything else is 100% accurate, Great Job Wolter !!!

[@kimhoffman433]

thank you

[@richardcyr9040]

Do not say "Où sont les bécosses?", asking where are the toilets because "bécosse" is an old and uneducated word for doing your thing outside, in a shed.

[@MikePailleur]

Haha je voulais dire la même chose. In France they might still say it sometimes when informal. "Le dép" sounds more like a teenager thing.

[@Applefish2112]

In fact, becosses is taken from the English term "back house" which is an out house. If you ask for a bécosse, they might send you on a farm back in 1883. 😉

[@yodorob]

Bonjour translates as "hi" just as much as "good morning". In fact, a few years back in my own Quebec, there was a whole controversy of store clerks about to be banned by the government from saying "bonjour hi" (rather than just "bonjour") to customers stepping in.

[@xGoodOldSmurfehx]

Wrong Bonjour is good day (bon jour), good morning is "bon matin" and if you wanna say "hi" its more like "allô"

[@jdmitaine]

Nope, the controversy was to always speak in both english and french when 85% of the population is francophone, it is ridicujous to great with Bonjour hi when the language of the province is French.... that was the debate... not everyone is a tourist so it is unnecessary to great in both English and French everytime... people need to speak the official language of the province when you live here long term, it is basic respect and curteousy... I'd do the same in Germany, Italy, Japan and South Korea, I would not expect them to great me in Englkish

[@jamesmaxton5016]

Salut ca va is good too, hey how’s it going

[@PatrioteQuebecois]

Merci!

[@tusk3260]

should teach people about the store brands that are popular in Canada, stores that are important to know in case you are in need and are looking for reliability. For example, you need prescriptions due to health problems, in most of Canada it will be Shopper's Drug Mart but in the French parts of Canada, it will be Jean Coutu who happens to also be a great place for girl's make-up and other toilet stuff. Bring your girlfriend there and she will be happy.

[@miriamzajfman4305]

You French is even better than many English - speaking people living in Montreal ❗👍😉😄

[@johnpapadopoulos1647]

LMAO

[@effie-Toronto]

LMAO

[@TMD3453]

Good tips! You can say almost anything if you say please, thank you or sorry with it!!

[@neilburns8869]

I know myself, I travelled with my parents and some family friends to Brittany in France back in 1990 and we had rented a large country house to stay in and were visited by some French people and they do appreciate if you can try and make an effort to speak their language. They will naturally make allowances, if maybe you are a little bit rusty or unsure, but better to try and make the effort. Unlike my Dad at the filling station with his car! Fill her up!☹😬😖😠🥴🤡🙄 Not his finest moment. It doesn't really matter if you say it a wee bit wrong because they will just share a laugh with you, but if they can see that you are making a genuine effort they will respect that very much.

[@reyznbran9586]

good c est bien !!

[@animalchatter498]

i was born in Montreal when I"m in the city I just speak English only. Most businesses and restaurants know and want your business so they'll assume you're just a tourist. I even spoke English when I was in Paris and Normandin.. most understood English. It's the international language. This is the same in almost any country..even in Thailand ;you can communicate in English.

[@effie-Toronto]

ENGLISH international language

[@johnpapadopoulos1647]

@@effie-Toronto The don't realize this in Quebec. Instead they pass laws like Bill 101 and Bill 96 to slowly eliminate English

[@Imsemble]

Doesn't it suck for you that most people in your hometown don't consider you one of their own because of that?

[@effie-Toronto]

@@jojoin514 Alex Murdaugh trial watch these and entertain yourself

[@SLYMORS]

The only Difference is the slangs , Many will say the same things . Every regions has their pronouns and slangs . Each country can talk french as intended . = Australia =Ireland =British=New York =Texan= all English but - Each their Cultured accents . Which gives a charm to all English Cultures .

[@pascalmorin379]

Be careful, you should not ask "Où sont les bécosses" in a restaurant because "les bécosses" are toilets in a campsite or a cabin where a hole has dug in the ground to use as an outdoor toilet. The word "bécosses" comes from an English word Frenchified by Quebecers, namely the words "back house" the small cabin which was often behind the house long time ago before the toilets were inside the homes.

[@effie-Toronto]

I am shocked

[@tusk3260]

Did you know there are 417 Jean Coutu stores in Canada?

[@artlovervictoria]

In my experience trying to practice a new language in places where too many people want to learn English the switching from their own language to English is quick because they are impatient and or want to practice their English. I found this trait among Germans, Greeks and Chinese but not Spanish speaking Latin Americans who have been very generous. Now I want to go for a few months to a French speaking country or province to practice speaking French, I wonder what French Canadiands and French Caribeans are like? Or, where in France do people not speak English?

[@JohnUnit]

Hello, I'm an English speaking Canadian. I would say generally that the people in Quebec will be quite quick to speak English and moderately annoyed if you stumble through French when they've already made it clear they can speak English. They deal with a lot of anglo-canadians and Americans who know a little French who stumble through French and drag out the interaction that way, especially in tourist areas. That said, I've experienced bilingual quebecois people pretending not to speak English basically to troll the tourist, but that's more a rural thing (there's politics and history involved...) than something you see in Montreal. Montreal, they'll just use whatever will be easiest.

[@artlovervictoria]

@@JohnUnit Thank you for your replay. It does not sound like they want tourists. Besides practising French which I speak well enough, I thought the city of Montreal was nice enough to visit after seeing parts of it in "Goblin" the K series. I will return to France where people are not as arrogant as they are made out to be.

[@JohnUnit]

@@artlovervictoria i wouldn't say that they don't want tourists, but specifically with the French language in Quebec, there is a long history there. The trolling or animosity i described has never happened to me in Montreal itself.

[@Imsemble]

I'd say in Montreal most people will switch to English but outside the city or tourist areas they will generally continue de conversation in French. You should know however that the French spoken in Québec sounds very different from the one in France and that adaptation might be a little difficult for a non-native speaker.

[@vincentlefebvre9255]

Go to Québec City instead of Montréal if you wish to practice your french.

[@thenorseguy2495]

Cette vidéo était merveilleuse👌 I’m going to Corsica this summer so I’m trying to learn some french. I hope they understand english there though. The line I can best so far are: puis-je avoir une bière s’il vous plaît 😂

[@grouloulle]

Les Corses ne comprennent pas l'anglais.

[@thenorseguy2495]

@@grouloulle I’ll be damned 🫣

[@jupiterb1868]

I hope you enjoy your time in beautiful Corsica! Not everybody speaks English but you'll be fine, just don't be in a hurry, for anything 😉life is slow here in the Mediterranean...

[@thenorseguy2495]

@@jupiterb1868 Life in the mediterranean sounds perfect to me. I hate being in a hurry.

[@EmMysteryVlogs]

We never say l'addition (the bill) in Québec. It's in France only. The vocabulary could be different here. We will understand yes, but will judge you a little for saying a French thing will also wonder where you learned that type of French and feel a bit confused. Here we say la FACTURE. Either the bill AND the receipt, same thing. Sometimes we do say le reçu for receipt tho.

[@cookiemonster-20]

Si, au restaurant on dit l'addition.

[@isabelreinhold1476]

The schools in the USA teach French from France!

[@FXGlobally]

It is nice to know about languages with such beautiful scenery. Thank you for showing. Bonjour.)

[@qwincyq6412]

I imagine that if a shop clerk or waiter hears your accent they will immediately begin speaking to you in english. It’s a Montreal thing

[@PrimeTimeTravelers]

Bonjour mon ami! Have a great rest of the week! Travel safe!

[@eplourde4634]

Please, guys, forget "Où sont les bécosses", that is slang! "Où sont les toilettes" is the correct way to go.

[@quinterofelixchidez]

Can I use I'd an social security or birth certificate a tour use of bus an ... covid test and app for boarder

[@simonrancourt7834]

You are allowed to drink alcool (beer or wine) in parks if you're also eating. You can grab a couple of beers and sandwiches at the dépanneur and go to a park, you're gonna be legal.

[@simonrancourt7834]

Mark often said people in Québec are very frieldly. If you just TRY to speak French, they're gonna bend over backward to please you.

[@JosephKellerJSK]

Alright, I'll disagree with walking into a store and saying "Bonjour". Whenever I do that, they respond happily with long fast-spoken sentences that I can't process, then it's immediately awkward. I'm quick to the "Parlez vous Anglais", with an embarrassed tone (to try to not be rude). If you're better at understanding French, saying Bonjour should work though.

[@audioteknika]

Everything was spot on except for Bécosse !

[@patsboy1012]

Quand j’ai l’opportunité à visiter le Québec, j’espère que je peut avoir mes vacances en français. Même quand ils changent à l’anglais, je vais dire, « Peut-on parler français. Si j’ai voulu à parler anglais, j’irais à l’Ontario ou aux États-Unis. » Je ne sais pas, il y a quelque chose qui me sent bizarre sur parler anglais dans la province des francophones.

[@Ptitnain2]

On aimerait que le reste des canadiens se sentent comme vous par rapport à la langue au Québec. ;)

[@Imsemble]

Je peux te dire qu'avec cette mentalité là, tu seras accueilli à bras ouverts quand tu viendras ici!

[@CreachterZ]

I want to go and eat all of poutine they can serve me. That looks delicious.

[@jumbowana]

You guys ever go to Indonesia? I'm learning the language and would like to go to non-toursity bits (Bali) and looking for ideas.

[@anne-marienadeau2763]

FYI , “bécosse“ = “back house” mispronounced.

[@juliebabin]

Oh !! please don't say "bécosse" because it's an old expression meaning the dry toilets in the yard of a cabin, litterally!

[@Tramptraveller]

💖💖💖💖😊😊😊😊💖💖💖💖

[@papikar4583]

Hello i am from Bangladesh and i am work in GCC 11 year office boy calling office i like Canada and i need work calling job can YOU halp me

[@r.plante2916]

A little goes a long way. Such a great city; beats NYC by miles these days.

[@tylerj7298]

You could say S'il te plait, if you have a friend there or so. S-il te plait is the informal version of S-il vous plait.

[@sammexp]

Bécosse... Not Bécossé is a deformation of Back House in English, That's a slang word for an outside toilet, don't says that, that's even a bit offensive, asking for a dry toilet outside, when you can go to the normal toilet

[@antonboludo8886]

Just speak neutral international French. You will be understood.

[@JackDowdall-z1f]

No tourists unless they pay them to learnfrench. When they go traveling do they learn their language. No

[@FrenchCanada]

⚜️⚜️⚜️

[@LibrarianChef]

For your pronunciation of Quebecois French, you need to make the sounds more nasal.

[@clvrswine]

Why would anyone want to tour Quebec?

[@bobdaoust1291]

The roads are crap, bridges crumbling (ille le tourt bridge), potholes, orange cones, long winters, tons of snow and most of all repressive language laws against the English community!!!

[@Ptitnain2]

@@bobdaoust1291 Yeah indeed, you can go back to the rest of Canada it's fine, you'll feel safe and free over there.

[@Booboonancy]

Why does anyone want to tour anywhere then ? Your comment is dripping with bitterness 😬

[@arispanagiotopoulos2533]

Like in France unless you speak their language they ain’t gonna be nice to you, they can be even rude, that’s my experience and actually it’s a well known fact to anyone who has visited any of the two countries and didn’t speak French. It’s idiotic really and it just demonstrates their jealousy and complex.

[@Dogman1993]

What? A lot of people here do not speak English at all. It's the same as if a tourist visited America, talked to you in Chinese and then called you rude for ignoring them. What else do you want to do? You don't know what they're saying.

[@naramoro]

Whatever they speak in Quebec, it's not french.

[@effie-Toronto]

I totally agree I had Parisian friend come to Montreal and they could not understand this type of French

[@Ptitnain2]

@@effie-Toronto Parisian haha.

[@Ptitnain2]

It is French. The thing is, our pronounciation is different because we have mixed other language from France, that are now gone, that still have an influence on the way we speak.

[@nicolaspel]

"Va chier"

[@suzannep8882]

In English, one must capitalize languages. … it’s not French ( capital F) from a bilingual French -English speaker whose mother tongue is French and grew up in Quebec City and taught French for 30 years.

[@LearningKHTV-pk8fd]

Merci beaucoup