Quebecois VS French Speaker | Will I understand it? French Reacts to Canadian French

[@michaelweber7993]

The first people who were being interviewed toned down their accents to make it more understandable because they knew they were talking to someone from France. That's why you noticed a difference in accents between the first and second video. If they had been talking to another quebecois, the accent would have been stronger.

[@MJ-wrty]

Exactly!!

[@emericdion]

Very true although sometimes some don't have the same accent as other. Personally I'm friends with a lot of people that sound more french and use french expressions so I kind of adopted some part of it and my accent is less strong that it was a couple years ago

[@Bruno2777]

You’re spot on!

[@user-tz9jh6pv2j]

"If they had been talking to another quebecois, the accent would have been stronger" And if they were talking to an anglophone in Montreal, the accent would be even stronger. Just so you would have no hope of understanding them. LOL. I moved to Montreal 6 years ago and started learning french. i swear... people were purposely slurring and speaking faster to mess with me.

[@kontiuka]

Really? I don't know how I would tone down my accent if talking to someone from England.

[@Cwhitey1967]

The Acadian people of Atlantic Canada, also speak their own version of French.

[@onemondaynight]

Yes! In fact, Acadian is where we get the word Cajun, as many Acadians left Canada and settled in Louisiana.

[@mikearsenault5183]

There's something to that we call "chiac" and it's a mix of french and english

[@MattyC62185]

And right off the coast of Newfoundland is a piece of France itself St Pierre and Miquelon island

[@davidedwards3838]

@@onemondaynight they didn't just leave they were forced out.

[@onemondaynight]

@@davidedwards3838 right you are, sir.

[@loosilu]

My mother was from Quebec City and we grew up bilingual in the US. I can immediately identify Quebec French even if I am not close enough to understand words. The rhythm and the vowels are unmistakable.

[@raynemichelle2996]

@ What a random weird comment

[@luther9678]

@ lmfao what

[@RoundenBrown]

same, don't speak french but i can tell the accent apart from metropolitan.

[@bobbiusshadow6985]

@ I dunno, man. Last night, I fell asleep listening to some kind of throat singing mantras and woke up this morning feeling I was in harmony with my surrounding... Does it count?

[@claudest-gelais8456]

Hi Marie, great reaction!!! I'm québecois from the Saguenay region about 200 Km north of Québec City. I worked in Montréal for 20 years and our respective accent is quite different. As for fearing to be unwelcome in Québec because you're from France, just say you're not from Paris, that will make a huge difference. Many of my friends have visited France in the past and Paris being the destination of choice, many were put off by the way they were treated. You said it yourself some time ago that Paris residents do not do justice to the rest of French people in your country. You're an excellent example of that! :-)

[@claudest-gelais8456]

@@tomjones2121 Pres de Baie-Comeau?

[@boink800]

For all Quebecois visiting France -- just make sure you speak a very formal French, while trying to use French words (instead of Quebecois ones). You'll be fine in France.

[@francesbadger3401]

Came to say the same thing! It's really only Paris that's resented. Us Quebecois get offended when French people switch to English so they don't have to hear our accent. I've never been to France myself, but I hear that's common in Paris.

[@boink800]

@@francesbadger3401 No, that is non-sense. Le 'switcher' does not exist in France. As long as you speak Standard French in France, you'll be fine. And Quebec has a great image in France, many in France love the Quebec accent.

[@francesbadger3401]

@@boink800 I'm glad to hear it! Perhaps what I've heard is rare. I think the effect is a bit like a racial slur; it's very rare that someone is rude enough to use one, but if someone does it really sticks in the mind. I have no reason to disbelieve what I've heard, but from what you say I'm hopeful it's an occasional rude waiter and not a generalized problem!

[@Apache148414]

I’m Nepalese living in the US for the past 15 years. I speak 5 languages including Spanish and I’m learning Italian now. I’m very interested in learning languages and I think I’ve a good ear. I can definitely hear the accent difference between metropolitan French and québécois French.

[@claudevillemaire355]

My mother was French Canadian. she went to University of Montreal and graduated from there. When my father moved her down to Florida, she had to learn English as you do. She would tell us children that being immersed in an English speaking land helped her to learn very quickly! She also told me that she found that there were times when she would speak with people from France and some of what they said and how they framed their ideas was different from what she grew up with. She never had any trouble with Cajun French she was able to pick that up pretty quickly. I think this because she had to pick up English the way she did! Have a blessed day!

[@ralphtomlinson4520]

I speak Cajun French and lived in Montréal as a young man. I had no trouble with Québec French and they had no trouble with my Cajun French. Both are essentially seventeenth century French, thus the two dialects share many of the same archaisms. They also share many of the same Algonquin words and disguised anglicisms. One thing that Québecois lacks that Cajun has is Choctaw words. The best known Cajun French word that is really a Choctaw word is "bayou". The Cajun swear words and vulgar words are different from those in Québec, except for those translated literally from English. Many of those are the same.

[@savannah115]

@@ralphtomlinson4520 I find it so interesting that it seems like all current "New World" versions of "Old World" languages are actually just versions of the original that kind of got stuck in time and then spun around in the blender that is America until you end up with words like bayou that are truly made in the American melting pot. My mom is from Western Pennsylvania, where their "hillbilly" form of English is actually just a near perfect timecapsule of 18th century British English, because they were so isolated in Appalachia that their dialect didn't change (perfect example: they still say "Mum" instead of Mom). To this day some of my college friends think my mom is British. Linguistics are so great.

[@michaelconnors8525]

Keep in mind that most colonists to Quebec were from northwest France and there wasn't much immigration from France after 1750. If you and a Quebecois got in a time machine and went to Saint-Nazaire or Angers in 1750, you would probably be the one people thought had a strange accent 😀

[@johnnyskinwalker4095]

From Brittany, right? I have heard of this that many people who left France for the Americas came from there. And people from Brittany came from Britons in Great Britain. I don't think Quebecers would like to know that. lol

[@yannschonfeld5847]

No. The majority of the colonists in Nouvelle France (Québec) came from the Poitou region. The present day accent and distinctive vocabulary in Québec bears this out along with the family names for people who trace their ancestry. French spoken north of the Loire Valley is discernibly different from French spoken north of this linguistic demarcation line even until today. As for l'Acadie, this is another question.

[@johnnyskinwalker4095]

@@yannschonfeld5847 How do you know?

[@yannschonfeld5847]

@@johnnyskinwalker4095 I lived in France for 35 years: I have friends in Québec, friends from Poitou and in any case, this is all historical. You can read about it. Do some serious research from historical sources.

[@yannschonfeld5847]

@@johnnyskinwalker4095 Also, having lived in Brittany for 35 years, I know that apart from Jacques Cartier, an explorer from Saint Malo, but who was not a settler, neither Brittany nor Normandy had any important colonial imput into la Nouvelle France. Otherwise, there would have been Breton speaking regions in what is now Canada. I also speak Breton (though only older people still speak the traditional language) and I am part of that generation. I didn't learn it in books but with true native speaking Bretons on farms more than 40 years ago. Most of them have passed on. I am now in my late 60's.

[@Josephhikes]

I’m form Texas and the people in Quebec treated me great, but they had no problem telling me they didn’t think much of the US government. I don’t think they would have any problems with you at all . Come visit Texas sometime we’d all love you here also . 🤠

[@CharlieBravoTango]

I'm from Quebec and would love to visit Texas someday. Mainly to experience Texas culture and food. You may not believe it but many Quebecers have much more in common with texans than we do a large part of Canada and coastal US

[@antonboludo8886]

@@CharlieBravoTango Yes, this makes sense to me.

[@JRondeauYUL]

Joe, you knew that you have a French speaking community in south east Texas? They’re called the cadians, or les acadiens.

[@benw9949]

@@JRondeauYUL Those are probably Cajuns, yes, acadiens, related to our Cajun neighbors over In Louisiana. :) Salut d'en Texas! After the hurricanes in the past few decades, there have been more Louisianans (Cajuns, Creoles, Anglais) who relocated to the Texas Gulf Coast, and vice versa, which I guess has always been a thing for the Gulf Coast after storms. -- Most people are friendly. The prejudiced ones, that's their loss. -- LOL, to our Canadian neighbors -- I don't know how y'all brave the freezing weather there! In Text, we get the opposite, almost tropical weather. Definitely no polar bears coming into town in the winter, haha. -- Canadians and French folks are all welcome. So are our Louisiana neighbors. (I also studied French in high school and college, but my Frenchis now rusty from lack of practice.)

[@shootstraight91]

We love Texan here in Québec they have a great reputation for good hospitality, my dad used to be a truck driver and went to Texas twice a year and always had a great time down there.

[@jml7916]

I have a dialect story. My grandmother was born in the late 30’s to very poor Franco-Ontario farmers just across the border from Quebec. She married a man from a very English area of Ontario and moved there to raise a family. I was born there many years later. I learned to speak Joual (a working class dialect of Quebec French) very young but never attended any schooling in French. As a result I speak a heavily accented, harsh dialect that is difficult for many Québécois to understand and nearly impossible for Europeans to comprehend. I have a hard time understanding metro French and am nearly illiterate (in French) although I plan to change that in the next year. I can understand the québécois in this video well but have a very hard time with European French and my wife who can converse well in Metro French (and is more literate in French in general) cannot understand me at all. I have the opportunity to study in French for the next full year. We’ll see how much of my dialect is left when I am done and how much my literacy improves.

[@liliaboisvert]

Wow our story is actually really similar (although my grandmother is from a poor Quebec farming family instead of Franco-Ontarien) I have a weird mix of really heavily accented Joual French that I learnt in childhood and really proper European French that I learnt as an adult dating someone from France. I moved to Montreal later on and everyone was super confused by my accent switching back and forth between Joual and Parisian haha. Good luck with your French studying, I hope you keep some of the dialect around as Joual is dying out (at least here in Montreal)

[@ThisisFerrariKhan]

Any updates yo? I’m studying french for my third language and thank you for sharing your story, you just solidified that I need to study not only Quebecois, but African & Creole and Parisian french so that my ear is attuned to the grammar and different speeds of the whole francophone world.

[@jml7916]

@@ThisisFerrariKhan Wow, yes. I started the course (it’s a formal course with an instructor and 4 other students) 3 months ago. I elected to start the course from the very beginning (with people who have no French at all) although I had the option to start later. It has been rewarding and fun. I have learned enough to likely pass my B level or at least A2. My goal is B2 or C1 and I think I will reach that. I still have some accent but it has softened. More importantly my vocabulary has grown and my grammar has improved a lot. I still struggle with the writing exercises but so far have aced all of my aural and reading comprehension exams. Concentrate on Metro French and then just watch some KZbin once your comprehension grows. Most of the dialects aren’t to bad to wrap your head around. Especially if you already speak English well. Good luck.

[@4inchesofpleasure]

Je te souhaite la meilleure des chances, mon ami!

[@wesleymorris-laviolette1543]

Hey! I grew up in eastern Ottawa and heard old french like that growing up. I have such a fascination with these old canadian french accents, words and dilects that seem to be slipping away and are very sparesly documented! It would be amazing if you posted a recording how the way you speak! Im sure most canadians don't even know that that type of french still exists, never mind other francophones :)

[@BobWillisOutdoors]

I was a French major in college, and I spoke Parisian French fairly well. A few years after college I spent 3.5 weeks in Quebec, and it took me most of that time getting to the point where I could comfortable understand what people were saying, and then being able to actually talk with them. It was frustrating at first, but lots of fun.

[@ashvanes484]

So, in the early 90s I had lived near Bordeaux for a year, as an exchange student with a French family that spoke not a word of English. Came back, I was told, with a strong southern France regional accent and fluent. I'd visited Paris, Bretagne, no issues. I went to school in New England, still live here. Decided I'd go to MTL to visit, and was floored when I understood very little. One evening, I annoyed a local asking for them to repeat what they were saying and they ripped off a "Do you understand French or what" - I was pretty mortified and switched to English at that point. Had a great visit in any case, and have been a few times since. It's a gorgeous city. ETA: To this day I still find Quebecois challenging. Oh, my spouse's family is 100% French Canadian descended but unfortunately the last generation that knew regional New England French (his grandparents Memere and Pepere, had adorable accents in American English) didn't teach the kids (his parents) who all only know English. Challenged him and our kids to learn french, we'll see how it goes.

[@MrD-et9dp]

Salut Marie, just so you know, not all French-Canadians are Quebecois. I''m an Acadian from New Brunswick in the Atlantic provinces, which is Canada's only officially bi-lingual province. The "Cajuns" in the southern US are mostly the descendants of Acadians who were deported from this area by the British in 1775. The word "Cajun" is actually derived from the word "Acadian". Acadian French is quite a different dialect than both Quebec and Cajun French, it has a lot of "old French" terms in it. I've visited France a few times and even though my first language is English, I was surprised by how well I was able to understand French people and they me. It was always funny though when they tried to figure out where I was from, they knew I wasn't French and most thought I was Swiss. They were usually surprised when I told them I was from Canada because I don't speak the Quebec French. I fondly remember how patient French people were with my limited abilities in French and they seemed to appreciate the effort. You should check out the Acadian French, I think you'll find it quite interesting. Keep up the great work!

[@darylwilliams7883]

I spent a week in Cheticamp NS and I've been to Mirimachi. Yep, it really is different

[@jamesprunesti6514]

I did a lot of work in Moncton a couple of years back. I heard so many stories of them traveling down to Louisiana and being able to understand perfectly. However, I had someone come from Quebec for the work and they struggled at time to speak with those native from NB

[@TiPain16]

You should enter ''Les différents accents de la Péninsule acadienne'' in youtube and you will find out that Acadian accents are different in every municipalities in maritime provinces, influenced by Quebec in the north and New England in south!!

[@bobwhite8440]

Don't forget the Acadians in the Saint John River valley in Maine. I hear there's a few French speakers in Wisconsin too.

[@hobbyvids11]

Tellement vrai. Malheureusement, au quebec la majorité pense que nous sommes les seuls francophones au canada ...ont oublie rapidement le NB et les nord de presque toute sles autres provinces ou le français est assez présent

[@mrchrislatino]

My Grandfather from Turin Italy also spoke French. As a translator during the war he was sent to Quebec and taught English by a Canadian. Growing up I had a very ethnic looking and sounding Italian/American family, but he stood out as the only one who spoke English with a French accent.

[@msamour]

Bonjour Marie, je ne sais pas si ça été mentionné, le Québec compte 16 régions administratives. Il y as environ 8 différents accent régionaux. Tous ces accents sont basés sur une version modifiée du vieux français. La plupart des Européen francophones disent que les accent s'approche du français parlé (ou qui jadis était parler) dans la région de ST-Malo. Pour compliquer les choses, certains villages on des idiomes complexes où les mots sont a paine prononcer et où des mots anglophones ont été introduit et modifier de leur sens originale.

[@kenross4256]

Je dirais comme on le parlait autrefois à St Malo. J'ai entendu une conversation à St Malo entre un barman québécois et un barman français, et il n'y avait aucune similitude entre les accents. Jacques Cartier est né à Saint-Malo.

[@msamour]

@@kenross4256 la langue est séparé par plus de 400 ans d'évolution. Vous ne pouvez pas vous attendre a ce que les similitudes soient parfaite là. De plus, ce ne sont pas des bourgeois de la haute classe que vos ancêtres envoyais en Nouvelle France non plus hein!?! Et puis finalement, Vos ancêtres ont abandonnés mes ancêtres, du coup, la langue des Canadiens Français as du se développer comme elle pouvais. J'espère que vous appréciez les deux Îles que vous avez obtenu en échange des "quelques arpents de neige." ;)

[@Vincent-pt4qj]

17 régions administratives*

[@msamour]

@@Vincent-pt4qj C'est quoi la dix-septième ?

[@HweolRidda]

I am a Canadian anglophone. To me the French from France, Québec and Acadie are obviously different. Canadian versions of French have different sounds, for example a few vowels not used in Paris. Interestingly that is reflected when they speak English. Someone speaking English with a strong Québec accent sounds obviously different from a Parisian.

[@marie-joseeboulet450]

French Canadians can't also pronounce some words the way than they tell them in France, like "Peinture", we can't say that word the way they say it... It's like a half vowel between "an" and "ein"... So... If people dind't ear those sounds between 2 months and 3 year's old, they would never be able to pronounce those... So of course, someone speaking English will been unable to pronounce some other sound in Québec accent speaking, just like it so hard for us to prounoune "th" the way you use it, like in "though" or "birthday"

[@benstern997]

I’m a native English speaker who learned French in school the French way, but who has lived in Quebec for the last 10 years. My accent is mixed. It depends where I learned the word. Some of the older Quebecers I interact in the Beauce region where I live with find my accent somewhat snobbish, but French folks find my accent a bit rough. I find the French spoken in Quebec kind of bouncy.

[@benstern997]

@Jack Francis Tabarnak!

[@pgl7950]

I’d like to hear an American from Arkansas, an Australian and an Jamaican speak with other. They’re all speaking English but would have difficulty with the accents.

[@darrenjones2933]

When I was in the US Army a Jamaican guy came to our unit. First Jamaican I had ever met. It took me two days to understand his accent, but once I did, he was one of the funniest guys I ever met in the Army. Between a US Southerner, Australian, and a Jamaican the Jamaican would take the most getting used to. Slang words are going to be more difficult for the American because everybody sees US movies and media. Jamaicans have some great slang, Aussies also.

[@xazimir4266]

Or Northern-Scotland-English and Alabama-English and Caribbean-English styles and see how it goes. I’m talking about accents that are extremely heavy, and sort of “boonies or stick-in-the woods small towns or areas.

[@victorpereira225]

I'm from Trinidad and I worked with a guy from Tennesee in Miami. We understood each other perfectly fine the Cubans not so much.

[@vanniperigord7085]

An Arkansan, an Australian and a Jamaican walk into a bar.........

[@RatedFforFUGlenda]

As an English speaker there are some dialects that are harder to understand than other but the only time I’ve be truly lost was hearing Appalachian accent. I was exposed to various accents growing up so I don’t think I struggle as other might.

[@barrystrachan6340]

There definitely is a difference. Language is influenced by geography and culture so there will be differences depending on where the speaker was brought up. Don't worry about being shunned if you come visit Quebec, as long as you remain humble and friendly, you will get the same response from Québécois...:-)

[@joycenorthwind6874]

She has to be humble to not get shunned? Friendly, I get.

[@mariegabe9015]

There are French speakers in Ontario - Franco-Ontarians. They have a different accent than the Quebecois. There is a large francophone population in Ottawa as it is the Capital and the seat of Government which is officially bilingual. Ottawa sits on the boarder of Ontario and Quebec. There are many francophones in Manitoba as well.

[@deebelisle963]

My family is from Timmons are

[@a1driver982]

I hate Ottawa with a passion. To bad I have to go there on Monday.

[@haggis525]

You mustn't leave out the Northern Ontario corridor between, say Cochrane and Hearst - a lot of these towns are mostly populated by French speakers.

[@a1driver982]

@@haggis525 I use to deliver all through the Cochrane to Hearst area and never once came across anyone that spoke French but maybe I was just lucky. Lol.

[@haggis525]

@@a1driver982 Well, they are almost 100% bilingual... but I've spoken French in almost all the restaurants, truck stops, grocery stores through that area... I reckon that I'm the lucky one because I can speak to them in their mother tongue.

[@nolanvolens5727]

You should compare Acadian to Quebec, French and Cajun dialects. That would be very interesting.

[@carsoncontrerasgalaviz4580]

Agreed!! But with Acadian french - would be better if you were french and understood no English!

[@shannonconner9850]

I was so thinking this my GranPere spoke Acadian and my Gran Mere spoke Québécois I would love The comparison

[@afromolukker]

Like get all of these speakers plus maybe Hatian Creole and an African French Speaker and do a Zoom call!

[@kevmagill5163]

People from France speaking English and people from Quebec speaking English sound very different to native American English people...the way you describe how you feel about the Quebec accent might be similar to how we feel about British accents...it sounds elegant and charming and we love a British accent here in the States...great video!

[@ronkrupovich7152]

Believe me, you'll be well received here. I'm from LA originally--studied in Aix in 74-75, came back home with a Provencal tinged accent---different from other regions in France. I'm now a Canadian and have lived here 3/4s of my life. There are distinct accents here too--my friends from northern Ontario have a different accent from those in Ottawa and Gatineau, Montreal, Quebec City, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Manitoba, and so on. I love the language in all its forms. I suppose over the years my accent has been affected by local French speakers--although, because I learned to speak in southern France, there's obviously still a bit of southern France in my French. Thanks for covering this topic.

[@jonathanleonard1152]

Few people know how large province of Quebec is relative to the size of France: Quebec, 1,500,000+ Km2, France, 643,000+ Km2. That makes Quebec a little under three times the size of France. The language will not be the same across that large an area.

[@grantmcinnes1176]

Sure, but you have to put in context that almost all Quebecoise live in a strip a couple of hundred km wide on each side of the St Lawrence river, between Gatineau and roughly Trois-Riveres (maybe 500km?). The rest is spectacular wilderness with only a very few quite isolated populations. (This population concentration is common across Canada, by the way. The North is a very hard place to live. They say 90% of Canadians live within 200 km of the Southern border.)

[@trebcabb]

As a U.S. native English speaker who studied French for a few semesters in college fifty years ago (I was going to major in it) what I notice about all of these North American native French speakers is that they're much easier for me to understand than a native French speaker from France.

[@JoelDelizo]

As a native English speaker myself, speaking Québécois French is much easier to articulate--at least for me personally.

[@burg3511]

Lol same here

[@claudelamoreux8543]

I had a Frenchman tell me that I spoke my highschool French with a Canadian accent. He could not describe what the difference was, but I suspect Canadians enunciate more than the French.

[@Andrew17B]

Tbh, I feel the opposite. I'm Manitoba (province in Canada) and I've spoke french and English since birth. And for me, québécoise is harder to understand than most french accents and dialects from France. That being said if either one of them start speaking like Eminem or Busta rhymes, I have to ask then to slow down a little. (If you give me french subtitles I'm fine)

[@helgar791]

As many people around the world say the American English accent is easier to understand than British English.

[@pmarquisYT]

T'as pas à t'inquiéter de l'accueil que les Québécois ont pour les Français. Il y a une minorité de Québécois qui n'aiment pas les Français mais, c'est pas la norme. Tu sais il y BEAUCOUP de touristes français qui viennent au Québec, et beaucoup d'expatriés aussi. On a l'habitude disons. Sois souriante et sympathique et les Québécois vont bien te le rendre! :)

[@simonledoux8519]

You will be well received in Quebec because you seem like a friendly and nice person who would be respectful of others. Just accept that the accent in different and while in Quebec, you would actually be the person with the accent, not them. Just be curious and observe but never moque their accent or say something like "Ce n'est pas français ça". Otherwise, you will do fine and you will fall in love with Quebec for sure. The people are so nice in general. I learned French in Quebec and so my accent reflects that. I remember being in Tahiti and speaking French there. A local woman asked me " Vous venez du pays de Céline Dion?"

[@Matchatbrew369]

I’m French Canadian raised in Northern Ontario. I speak a very different French from Quebec French. I speak with more English slang than Québécois, and I find myself searching for proper French words to get my point across.

[@rocosuavez]

Similar situation i live next to the US border and people do that here too or mix up English and French words continuously and yes sometimes i cant find a word in one language so i shift to the other

[@michaelconnors8525]

I dated a woman from Windsor, Ontario whose parents were from different regions of Canada and had different dialects because of it. The Father was from Quebec, but her Mother was from New Brunswick. The Father though Mother's NB dialect (Acadian?) sounded stupid and they stopped communicating in French! It was rarely spoken in the home when this woman was growing up.

[@haggis525]

I'm English 🇨🇦... born and raised in Quebec... I've lived most of my life speaking the two languages interchangeably. I do mean interchangeably - as in peppering whichever language I'm speaking with words or phrases from the other. It's a great way to live!

[@tais1355]

I definitely find Quebecois easier to understand than Parisian French, which is funny bc I was taught by a woman with a perfect and precise Parisian accent. I honestly think it’s the inflections, the rhythm, almost like French spoken by a Texan. they add emphasis and drawl, which is how I speak English, so I just find it easier to comprehend ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[@shootstraight91]

I'm a french Canadian from Québec and I've been told by a few American that heard me speaking french that they could hear something close to a Texan accent, and I always been drawn to the Texan accent myself. Like you said I love the inflections and the flow of a conversation it captivate you in some way.

[@user-tz9jh6pv2j]

My French accent is a Frankenstein monstrosity. I'm an American. I did my study abroad in Marseilles and learned a little bit of french. Then I worked in Montreal and took French classes at a govt school... and my French teacher is an Iranian-Canadian woman who worked at the Iranian Embassy in France.... so she had an Iranian accent. Then I learned a bunch of stuff from my Quebecoise girlfriend. Then I moved to Paris for work. Everyone comments on my accent and nobody guesses that I'm American. Everyone just tells me my accent is strange.... Quebecers... Parisians... everyone

[@sadee1287]

I'm totally the opposite. I understand Parisian French _way_ easier than Quebecois French. There's so much twang in Quebec French, and they mash the sentence up and leave out consonants, not to mention the joual. I occasionally watch TV5 and can understand it so much better than series or movies on ICI TÉLÉ (CBC). Tant pis, parce que j'aime le plupart des programmations français, mais le français quebecois le souvent est difficile à comprendre.

[@jt1929]

Métis people speak Michif , mix of Cree, French and English languages. Maybe you could explore that as they’ve been around since the 1700’s?

[@StuckInPeg]

When I moved to Winnipeg from Ottawa I thought I would be able to hear the Michif language being spoken. But no... This is a hybrid language with noun phrases coming from French and verb phrases from Cree. The Cree language component is pretty overpowering I think, a French speaker would find it impossible to understand. Also there are only a few hundred people who are fluent in Michif. Some public schools in Winnipeg teach Ojibway and Cree and other indigenous languages but not Michif as far as I know. When I was a kid visiting my cousins in rural Manitoba I sometimes encountered people who spoke "Metis French". This is more a dialect of standard French. But I haven't heard anyone speak that way since I came to Winnipeg a few years ago.

[@gabrielmailhot3113]

@@StuckInPeg Michif will be more like the language spoken at home

[@svntn]

oh wow! do alot of people know about michif? used to speak a bit of michif with my Métis dad before he passed. people looked at me weird whenever some spilled out when we were in public (he didn’t like speaking anything besides french outside our house). glad to hear about it after such a long time!

[@StuckInPeg]

@@svntn there's an article on "Michif" in English Wikipedia. It says that as a hybrid language it is unusual because it does not simplify either of the original languages. The verb phrases in Cree retain its complexity. The noun phrases in French also retain the rules of French nouns. It's interesting as a living remnant of Metis cultural history.

[@svntn]

@@StuckInPeg sounds about right! it really was a mix of a couple languages. i always saw michif like Frenglish (the mix of french and english that Quebecers use). some word are written following the english grammatical rules and some follow the french rules. it’s really hard to learn if you didn’t grow up with it.

[@PatricenotPatrick]

Visiting Québec inspired me to learn French as my third language and my teacher at my French language school said I sound Canadian because of my pronunciation. So I guess I’ll make sense at least in one country! 🇨🇦 ⚜️

[@Caniewaak]

There are actually a whole host of different regional accents in Quebec French. The biggest variation you'll see is often a rural vs urban divide, where the further from the cities you go, the more rustic the accents get, but in different parts you'll hear different variations (more slurred, more nasal, different tonal shifts, etc). I'd definitely say the crown jewel of it all is the accent from Saguenay / Lac St. Jean. Absolutely something else.

[@jacquesnadon1865]

J'adore ces vidéos qui mettent en évidence les différences linguistiques entre les Français et les autres. Ils perpétuent et contribuent à entretenir certains préjugés comme si la langue française appartient qu'aux habitants de la métropole. En tant qu'enseignant de langue, j'ai été confronté à un certain mépris... comme l'argument pour ne pas faire d'effort puisque ce n'était pas du "Parisian French". J'ai aussi eu à plusieurs reprises à enseigner à des enfants d'expatriés. Certains parents étaient vraiment gentils, aimables et ouverts d'esprit, pendant que d'autres, une minorité, rigolaient, se moquaient et affichaient une attitude condescendante. Lorsque ces derniers me faisaient répéter en affichant un large sourire... cela me faisait zire. Zire est un vieux mot dans le vocabulaire acadien... un archaïsme pour les autres. Pourtant, quand je parle avec mes collègues français, je n'ai aucun problème à les comprendre ni à me faire comprendre et il y a toujours une bonne entente. En général, les Français, les Belges et les francophones sont appréciés au Québec mais cela dépend de leur attitude et de leurs attentes. Après tous ces vidéos qui mettent en exergue la différence des accents, je ne sais plus si nous partageons la même langue... mais notre mode de vie et nos repères culturels sont totalement différents. Il est évident qu'il existe des différences d'utilisation, de prononciation, de lexique mais il n'y a pas de quoi à en faire un plat ni à fouetter un chat. J'écoute assidument TV5... les Suisses, les Belges et les Français ont tous un accent.

[@pierreschubler801]

Parfaitement ! En France, nous avons tous un accent suivant notre région de résidence. Pour quelques professions (TV/radio/théatre/cinéma...) il était encore d'usage il y a quelques années de gommer ces accents régionaux pour adopter le "bon ton" parisien. Certains racontent ces expériences malheureuses lors de leurs débuts à Paris. L'histoire se retourne aujourd'hui. Se moquer d'un accent est désormais considéré comme un profond manque de respect. Le terme "GLOTOPHOBIE" (se moquer de l'accent d'autrui) est apparu dans la langage courant. En 2018, un homme politique de gauche (JL Mélanchon) est passé pour un sacré ringard en raillant une journaliste pour son accent du Sud.

[@CoryAlbrecht]

What you're hearing about 4:30 in is a bit of code switching to a different "register" of French. Those previous Québécois being interviewed for TV were subconsciously (or perhaps consciously) trying to use a more formal version of French that flattens out many of the distinct sounds of Québécois in favour of Standard French. The guy that you had at 4:30 which you found a bit more difficult to understand was just speaking a less formal and more laid back register of French that diverges more from the standard language. Québec has some regional differences, but they are very slight compared to regional accents in France, and what many people think are different Québec accents are just these different registers.

[@mmichaeldonavon]

Marie, I really enjoyed this production - was quite enjoyable. I, like a lot of your other followers, find you just elegant and charming. I'm an old guy, but I love listening to your English. Thank you. And, you have a great smile and way of saying things. :)

[@ashleyl3699]

i'm Canadian and i haven't heard anything about French people not being liked in Canada. here in Canada its actually a stereotype that we have about Americans, that they don't like French people.

[@MarkfromNewYork]

Really? I have heard some serious trash talking about about people from Quebec when i was last in London Ontario.

[@imogenbegns]

There are a lot of Americans in America. If you are talking about how white Americans feel about the French, I have no idea. If you are talking about Black families who have lived in the US for many many centuries, we have a very positive view of the French, especially because of Louisiana and New Orleans; and because of their acceptance of Black people in France, in the 1920s.

[@ashleyl3699]

@@MarkfromNewYork yes absolutely racism against Quebec is VERY widespread. you are mixing up Quebec with France though. Quebecois people aren't French, they speak French. there is not any significant racism towards *the French* in Canada. as in, people from France.

[@markmiller4971]

Just like any country you have your imbeciles that dislike surface features and are ignorant of both history and tradition. That said, I personally - an American- love France and our shared history. Without her we would likely not exist as we do and might still be 'subjects' and not 'citizens'. I'd like to think we've at least partially re-paid that debit over the years, but be that as it may I don't think there are "Americans that don't like France" in any significant amount and those that do? Don't bother with them.

[@canada4life551]

@@ashleyl3699 in quebec a lot of people don’t like france

[@stevej1154]

I speak Franglais parce que my French is pas bon enough, malheureusement! It's always great to hear you speak French, Marie. And I think you'd be very welcome in Canada.

[@MaestroSangurasu]

Tu es anglophone de base ?

[@francesbadger3401]

Je trouve ca on the street de temps en temps but it's cool de le voir on KZbin! Merci 😁

[@spodermen9434]

Félicitations ! Tu parle maintenant comme un montréalais XD

[@benw9949]

Marie, (I'm Texan, I learned French in high school and college, but I don't get enough practice!) -- You'll find Québecois is different and generally closer to European French than Cajun French, which has a more rural country (de la campagne) flavor and more old historical words no longer common in standard French. Québecois is closer to standard European French, because French Canada stayed French in language and culture, it wasn't forbidden, and Quéec was more urbanized, less rural or agrarian, with differences in education too. But there are some accent differences too, and because of contact and mixing with English / British Canadian and those pesky Americans, and history and new things in the New World.

[@BerishStarr]

I'm not a French speaker. But I've followed Montreal Canadiens for 30 years, so I've heard the Quebec accent a lot, but since I don't speak French I struggle with hearing the difference.

[@Mikevdog]

Ma mère était Français Canadienne. elle est allée à l’Université de Montréal et a obtenu son diplôme de là- bas. Quand mon père l’a transférée en Floride, elle a dû apprendre l’anglais comme toi. Elle nous disait aux enfants qu’être immergé dans une terre anglophone l’aidait à apprendre très rapidement!

[@jessebrigden2920]

We have a lot of French nationals in Quebec. As long as you don't have an imperialist attitude, you will be warmly received.

[@didierlacroix6488]

vous êtes nos frères et nos cousins, on vous aime !

[@michaelmize1155]

My Mother-In-Law who was from the village of Saumur(Loire) said that French Canadian is a language that is frozen in time and sounds like the French of 300 years ago.

[@HMan2828]

It's more than a simple metaphor, because French speakers in Canada very much had to freeze their language in time, and fight to preserve it, or we would have lost it a long time ago. The English tried to rid us of it, but they failed... :)

[@ramonademmon5951]

Exactly! It's the french in France that has changed over time, not Quebecois french!

[@rocosuavez]

Yep i learned that a while back , the example was "CHAUDRON" old French and "CASSEROLE" new French unfortunately that's the only example i remember...any body know others?

[@HMan2828]

@@rocosuavez "Char" for car is another one... You will be hardpressed to find anyone using the word "voiture" when speakingin Quebec...

[@rocosuavez]

@@HMan2828 Yes probably short for "charette" is my guess ,good now i have two examples...

[@joshuakocher3911]

Ive also have heard many people and friends of mine that they also say the way we speak english here in canada is also cute and adorable. Was interesting to hear you think french canadiens sound cute and adorable to you.

[@grandpatzer]

The people being interviewed on TV will definitely speak in the more formal tone than if the same people were speaking to their friends or family at home.

[@nicholasbrassard3512]

Yeah, they aren't speaking joual so it is quite a bit easier to understand.

[@BruceBalden]

Joual serait très intéressant

[@grandpatzer]

@@BruceBalden chui d’accord avec toé

[@ESUSAMEX]

I am an American who lived on the Canadian border in NY State. I used to watch TV stations in French from Quebec. One day, I was traveling in South Carolina when I heard a women speaking French and English at a bar with her friends and family. At first, I believed she was from Quebec, but a few seconds later I realized she was from France. To be perfectly sure, I asked her where she was from. She told me France. When I told her that I originally thought that she may be from Quebec, she began to laugh. She then explained that to her Quebec French was so hard to understand at first due to the strange vocabulary used in Quebec.And that their accent is so different.

[@Radwar99]

The irony here is that Quebecers are much more protective of the French language than the French themselves. Here are just two examples, the show "The Voice", is called "The Voice" in France, while it's "La Voix" in Quebec. When doing some shopping, the French will say "Je fais du shopping" while Quebecers will say "Je fais du magasinage".

[@shootstraight91]

@@Radwar99 ''parking'' France ''stationnement'' Québec

[@edmunddow1417]

English quebecer here, speak french fairly well. I live on the gaspisie #the big thumb north of new Brunswick. Mix of British French and Irish. La accent et vraiment spécial.

[@EpochUnlocked]

Ah, I love these videos. It makes me appreciate language more and more.

[@badguy1481]

Montreal is a wonderful city to visit. I am always amazed how many Canadians can switch from Quebecois to, what I consider, PERFECT mid-western English, like throwing a switch. We Americans always sound like we're speaking English when we pronounce foreign words.

[@spqr_3177]

Individual bilingualism is of course a plus, but when mastering your own language is "not enough" to get by while living in your own country, that means only one thing: you're an oppressed minority.

[@Tea_in_the_Sahara_with_you]

I’m an English native speaker living in Montreal, when you hear someone as you described, switching from French to American sounding English, that person’s first language is definitely English. The English in Quebec are very much obligated to learn French.

[@isabelledrolet4297]

Not always true. I'm from the South Shore of Montreal with French as my first language and yet I am fluent in English at a native level, without an accent. I know of many others like me. I guess it depends on the kind of exposure you had to the other language and if you have an innate ability to learn languages or not.

[@msamour]

@@Tea_in_the_Sahara_with_you oh you don't have to. Most anglophones that wanted to beat me up were pure anglophones from Montreal. The entire West Island, you can live there your entire life never speaking a word of French.

[@doswheelsouges359]

@@Tea_in_the_Sahara_with_you That's a gross generalization. I was asked a handful of times by English native speakers where I learned French : their faces when I told them that French is my native language...and I'm not the exception.

[@ephennell4ever]

Something to keep in mind, Quebec is a *large* province; I would expect that there would be different accents in different parts of it. I would certainly expect that those who were born & raised in Quebec City would sound distinctly different (to another French speaker), compared to somebody who lived out in a very rural area, such as a farming area that was hundreds of km. away from Quebec City, or someone who was born and raised in Montreal! And there are probably strange people like me who are hard to figure out, sometimes. I took a few years of Spanish in high-school and college; then a girl from Perpignan, named Françoise, came to stay, for a few weeks, with some friends of mine. She had 4-5 years of English, but also 2 or 3 years of Spanish. Because she and my friends all spoke French, I tried to learn some French. They had me practice by reading passages from books, written in French. But almost every time I would read something 'out loud', Françoise would giggle or laugh. My friends said my French was ... *very* rough. But to Françoise ... she said it reminded her of Spanish visitors (they had *a lot* because - of course - they were on the border with Spain) when they were trying to speak French! So I was an American speaking French with a Spanish accent! She thought it was _so_ funny, sometimes she would have me read something from a book in French, just so she could laugh! Once I knew why she was laughing, I didn't mind, because ... it *was* funny, an American speaking French with a Spanish accent! 😄

[@spoitras]

Of course non-French speakers can notice the difference. 20 years ago I was in downtown Belgrade late at night, pretty drunk and speaking loudly with my brother. Well what do we hear? Some old diplomat-looking dude saying "Mais c'est le français du Canada!".

[@dgcconn4213]

I'm from Canada, the English part, studied French in school, spoke well at one time a long time ago but can still hear the difference between French as is spoken in France and Quebecois. And Marie, do not worry, if you decide to visit Canada, you'll be well received. :) Loved your video on ice-hockey. And we call it just hockey.

[@carllance8062]

Love this one Marie. I've found French Canadians don't have a French accent. I went to school with some kids who were from Quebec and they explained that having to learn two languages caused them to have less of a French accent. I took French with Andrea (one of the boys) and he spoke better French than our teacher. Keep up the great work. I love these types of videos ❤

[@Coreyjness]

As an English speaker who doesn't speak a lot of French, I honestly feel like they are very different. They do sound different, and I generally recognize more words in Canadian French

[@paterson90]

Same, I used to live in Canada and learn some French there. I understand Canadian French more than when I watch movies from France, I have trouble understanding all the words because of how they enunciate.

[@fs400ion]

@@paterson90 Yeah maybe because France French tend to lack distinct pronounciation. For instance, write « Un brin brun » in gg translate and it will sound the same. But in Québec (fortunately!) there is a distinct sound. « Un » and « In » are different, « in » being more nasal.

[@paterson90]

@@fs400ion That makes sense, I agree with that 👌

[@aliwantizu]

Bonjour Marie! Another video that I absolutely love! I had 5 years of French in school and have been relearning it now via an App for about 15 months. I can understand some of the français du Québec a little easier than I can français de la France. I think maybe because the Québécois speak a little more slowly? But when they use their own idioms, I'm lost. Cajun French is very tough to understand, and when they speak English it's very hard to understand as well. With English, people from Scotland seem to be quite difficult to understand at times, and the Welch aren't much easier. Merci pour ça! J'espère que vous passez un agréable week-end! ~Be Blessed

[@nadineleboeuf3046]

Tu devrais faire un vidéo sur l’accent du Nouveau-Brunswick ainsi que l’accent du nord de l’Ontario et l’accent du sud de l’Ontario (Saint-Joachim, Tilbury, Pointes-aux-Roches, Paincourt, Lasalle, etc. Il y a plusieurs communautés francophones dans le sud ouest de l’Ontario qui sont pas mal intéressants d’entendre l’accent français et comment le français a influencé la manière dont l’anglais est parlée.

[@RobinBonhomme]

I can hear the difference between the two because in school we learned the Quebec way of speaking due to our proximity to Quebec in New England. I find myself having a lot of trouble understanding people from France speaking French, but I can understand Quebecois people better. It's a shame because what ends up happening when I speak French is my accent is absolutely horrid because not only am I pronouncing everything like an American, I am pronouncing it like an American in a dialect different from Parisian French.

[@Tribblepuppy]

Many years ago I took a holiday to England, and the last thing I expected was to have a language barrier. I was at a train station and asked a group of teen kids for directions, and I didn't understand a single word they said, even after I asked them to repeat 2 times. I ended up just thanking them and going elsewhere for help. I'm sure that it was a combination of their accent and the possibility that they were speaking local slang. It was an interesting experience.

[@eTraxx]

When I was 10 years old we moved to England for three years .. my dad was in the US Airforce. For the first month when listening to the radio I could only understand what was being said if I really focused on it. If I just listened to the music being played and not having that intense focus I understood very little. Then .. about a month into it .. it was like a switch was thrown and all of a sudden it became clear.

[@francesbadger3401]

My grandfather was in the Canadian Army WWII. Once when on leave in London a Southern American and a Londoner asked for his help to understand each other. So he translated from English to English for them. He just repeated the words each one said, because they could both understand his accent but neither could understand each other's!

[@georgeadams1853]

With KZbin, I get to hear a lot of different English (England) accents, and there are some accents that I can understand only poorly, or not at all. Turning on the closed-caption subtitles helps, but not always. It's really strange when the person is speaking English and the speech-to-text program thinks it's Dutch or French or Portuguese and just puts random foreign words in the subtitles!

[@goldenretriever6261]

I'm Anglo Canadian, but have English relatives and they can't understand me.

[@ericjahoda2997]

Oh, Marie! I love hearing you speak French at the end of this video! I think I will just play that part in a loop while I fall asleep at night. I don't understand it but, it's like music to my ears. 😊

[@raynemichelle2996]

I'm an Anglophone from Canada and I can definitely tell the difference between Québec French and France French. That said, I learned French in school from a québécois teacher, but he taught us a standard French pronunciation. However I learned Canadian pronunciation from friends, movies, and music.

[@s.j.hunter3995]

I am an Anglophone from Ontario. When we were learning French in primary and secondary school we were taught Metropolitan or what we like to say, Parisienne French, not Quebecois. Primarily because our teachers were from France, studied at La Sorbonne.

[@canada4life551]

we learn the same french as french in quebec

[@MrHorsepro]

Remember Marie that Quebec province Canada is about 5 or 6 times the size of the whole country of France in landmass. So, I expect that as there are regional accents in France. There will also be regional accents from one part of Quebec province to another, perhaps even from city to countryside for that matter. We have that situation in an area as small as New York City for instance. The accents change from one borough to another in the city and those that grew up in one of the five boroughs of New York City, Manhatten, Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island, and the Bronx, all have very distinctive accents that reflect in some cases ethnic origin, or in others, it's just an accent that evolved over time as a result of a loose form of tribalism around each borough and even neighborhoods within the boroughs. There over 800 languages spoken in New York City today. It is the most linguistically diverse city in the world.

[@edmunddow1417]

I live on the gaspisie witch is just a bit larger than France. Spoke with a couple tourists from France. They took a 2 week vacation to tour Canada. I told them do you not realize how big this country is, they told me starting to they were 3 days on the coast.

[@badguy1481]

I did business in China for a number of years. One time I took a taxis from one side of Shanghai to another. The taxis driver stopped near the destination and asked a local for directions. When he was done asking the person, he rolled up the window and told me he didn't understand what the local had said.

[@Patriot-up2td]

I’m an English speaking American who goes to Quebec three times a week for my job, and have for ten years, so I have many French speaking friends there who also speak English (for my benefit). Your English is very very good, but yes, your dialect or accent is a little different from theirs when speaking English. Go to Quebec, especially Montréal sometime, you’d love it there! And the food is out of this world!!!

[@kation]

I can definitely hear the difference. That being said, I am from MB, Canada and grew up listening to québécois French on TV or radio, and sometimes in French class (learned it from age 7-14). I could read French well, but we were never given a chance to speak much and I couldn’t understand TV or radio from PQ or even the Franco-Manitobain accent when speaking French. But once I heard actual Parisian French it was a like a revelation. It was so clear and easy to understand. So having immersed myself in French TV series and videos to improve my French, I listen to québécois French now and it’s like listening to an Australian speak English for me lol. It’s so wild! But I love it.

[@ashjones7297]

I'm Australian, going to Quebec in a week. I wonder how I will be received? I assume Australian accents would be very strange? Lol

[@kation]

​@@ashjones7297 Do you speak French? Honestly either way you should be fine lol. They're nice people

[@kation]

@@ashjones7297 No problem! It is a little odd in Quebec because if you don't speak first, you will be spoken to in French at restaurants and stores (in Montreal anyway) and since it's Quebec French, it's not what you're expecting, so there will be moments you just stare and wonder what they said, lol. If you learn fast and commit to learning, they'll have no problem with you!!

[@ajsarabia]

I am an American who grew up in a Spanish speaking house. My parents were born in Mexico. I live near the Texas Louisiana boarder and I have traveled extensively through South Louisiana and New Orleans. I don't understand what is being said but I can tell the difference between Metropolitan French, Cajun and Quebecois. I can also tell the difference between when some who speaks Metropolitan French is speaking English and someone who speaks Quebecois is speaking English.

[@jessebrierley8384]

Metro french person says zis and zat, and a quebecer would say dis and dat

[@canada4life551]

average quebecois speak good english but most of people in france are pretty bad english speaker

[@jcl5345]

My mother is Korean. She has lived out of the country about 47 years, now she is 81 years old. She says that in phone calls with her sister, nephews, and nieces in Korea they consider her language and dialect "old fashioned."

[@jpeyton62]

My aunt who is Korean but has lived in the US since 1971 says the same exact thing you have and that it is difficult to understand the younger Koreans.

[@stephenmalloy88]

Hi Marie, Very nice video. Thank you for posting. My French ancestors left the small village of St. Gatien-des-Bois in 1665 and went to Quebec or as it was called “New France”. From there the family spread all over the US and Canada. Your language and culture videos are very good. Keep them coming!!

[@micheldelisle4285]

Hello Marie. I actually live near Montréal, and of course, I am a Québécois. I don't know if it is because it is cold in Winter but over the time, we have shorten a lot of the words. Example: in France you would probably say: "Est-ce que c'est ici?" while in Québec you may ear :"S'tu icit?". We may also speak a bit faster. And like in France, we have different accent depending from which region you are from. You should try to listen to the "Acadian French". It is not that we don't like people who are from France, it is just that we don't like people trying to imitate the French accent from Québec. If you ever visit La Belle Province, just speak French with your own accent. The other thing that we dislike is how some French people are misinformed about our country, hoping to see igloo's in Summer, or seeing Native Americans living in tipi's.

[@wes8129]

I think It might have to do with our musical history during our early colonial days, I think we sacrifice words for tempo and rhythm when we speak (also from Montreal region). maybe?

[@subspace666]

@@wes8129 think its simpler then that imo my theory is since we were far from what ever french authority that's in charge of the french language in france, people ended up making it easier for convenience in time. for example some people in my family really hate it when i say like ils sontait la les clé , i know sontait doesn't exist but it feels better then il's était to say.

[@emmanuelfani5385]

In France, for "s’tu icit?", we just say "c'est ici?" "Est-ce que c'est ici?" Nobody says that. It's formal written french

[@greeneyesinfl9954]

I love your passion! I can hear the difference between French and Quebec French, but the Cajun French is even more distinct. I hope to visit your country again one day, I was there years ago in the Marines, we went to the ports of Marseille, Toulon and Nice. Keep up the amazing content!❤️

[@cstephen98]

If you've reviewed Cajun and Quebequis then you should to look to reacting to Acadian French next. Supposedly it's the French equivalent to hearing medieval English. :)

[@travellingaccordian]

I'm an anglophone Canadian but I was in a French Immersion program at primary school (all classes in French) in Ontario and I've been taught by French, Swiss and Québécois teachers. Noticed a difference for sure! Was rather confusing developing my pronunciation with so many influences though haha

[@northerncricket5199]

Are there African French dialects you could react to? I would love to see how an Algerian or Congolese french speaker compares to Cajun or Quebec speakers in terms of accent and understandability

[@maggies88]

IMO Algerians have the most beautiful French accents of all and are very easy to understand. I am a Canadian anglophone who speaks French at work and I have a harder time understanding Central African accents than Northern African. I have only started speaking to Central African French-speakers the past few months but I am interested in learning and recognizing the accents of the different countries.

[@bettywilkie893]

Loved this video! Miss hearing my mother's Quebec accent. Thanks 😊

[@RuleofFive]

I live in the US. My brother dated an exchange student from Paris when he was in college. They drove to Montreal for the weekend to see the city. His girlfriend told him she could not understand Quebec French and had to ask for people to repeat themselves.

[@f-xr9511]

How long ago was that? (Genuine question, not a jugement: sometimes things can get lost in translation, especially via written word) The fact that most Qc French can understand (at least in general terms what is being said) French French, bot not the inverse, is mostly due to exposure. Most Qc people grew up with French movies and tv, but most French people have seen Qc movies only in the past 20 years. Some of us have heavy accents (and bad syntax), but so do a lot of French people. For the written part: it is mostly the same as French French, give or take a few words here an there.

[@RuleofFive]

@@f-xr9511 It was a while ago....1990

[@f-xr9511]

@@RuleofFive 30 years ago? Then truly understandable. Our media was pretty basic back then, and most people in France would have never heard actual Qc French. And also lets not forget that the urbanization and education levels were much lower back then, that also plays a role. Just explaining, not judging. I am all for people expanding their horizons! Most of our differences are about : 1) Accent (less pronounced as before) 2) Certain words (especially if slang) 3) Certain sentence structure mirrors English: so for her to hear the right words in an unusual order must have been jarring!

[@RuleofFive]

@@f-xr9511 No worries! It was 30 years ago. He and I laughed because his girlfriend was so happy to be able to speak to native French speakers and ended up getting very upset about the differences in their respective French that it ruined the trip for her. It was pre-internet and so much less was available then. I think the internet has reduced language differences over the past couple of decades because you can get exposed to many languages without leaving your home now! It's a good thing. Look at this young lady educating me with her life experiences on her channel. This would not have been possible 30 years ago. I'm happy about it! Anything that brings the world closer together! Thanks for your explanation.

[@ilyaibrahimovic9842]

Most of the testimony I heard, both from Montrealers and European francophones, is that it takes Europeans a few days to a week to get used to the accent.

[@Mike...921]

Thank you for doing this Marie! :)

[@hnsxg]

As a native English speaker, it's probably very similar to your English accent. I can understand very well except every once in a while I have to listen closely to understand. However, the more I listen it starts to auto-correct in my head a little quicker. :)

[@LongTimeNoPuck]

Hi Thad, I enjoyed you writing "auto correct in my head". Very creative usage!

[@user-David-Alan]

I enjoyed your perspective on language. Good video, thanks.

[@puntiagudos]

I'm American and my fiance is from Belgium, her 1st/native language is French. Can you do a comparison video that involves Belgian French?

[@claudest-gelais8456]

I had a woman neighbor in her 60's from Belgium, and to tell you the truth, I could not tell the difference between her french and Marie's. She spoke a little bit slower though, probably because she felt the need to be understood clearly by us Québecois.

[@hugolarsson3600]

Ah! Belgium! French may be a language of France, but Grevisse was from Belgium, and we still use Le Bon usage and his Précis de grammaire (now known as Le petit Grevisse). And without Belgium, there would be no Hergé!

[@alf.2929]

I'm waiting for the Swiss French vs. Metropolitan French video.

[@Charles-xu7pu]

Try New Brunswick chiac next! It's like a weird mix of acadian French and English.

[@dennisstafford1749]

You will be fine as long as you are friendly. Canada has metis French and French in all the other provinces but Quebecois are very independent with their own political party. I made many trips to Quebec City and Montreal and found them friendly. Many Canadians beside Quebecois speak French. Canadians are perhaps the most polite, chill people ever. Look up Quebec City on You Tube you would really enjoy it.

[@morzhed-hoqh732]

Métis ? French metis? What’s that?

[@dennisstafford1749]

@@morzhed-hoqh732 Mixed blood. Usually native peoples and French. Some lived apart as separate culture with French customs , i.e., French metis, some were Scots and Native peoples, i.e. metis, and some were mixed bloods remarried to other metis or back into French or English populations. Usually if marriages were into English populations they did not re-Anglicize fully. The West more segregated but more numerous than Quebecois and Ontario populations. Read about Voyageurs and Athabasca Men.

[@dennisstafford1749]

@@morzhed-hoqh732 Metis=mixed blood Euro+native, French metis, Scottish metis, metis marry metis and have separate culture but practice French culture and religion, that French metis.

[@morzhed-hoqh732]

@@dennisstafford1749 Wow! Don’t speak like that if you go to Europe. You risk to have big problèmes... I didn’t know there were different races in west Europe... A south English and a North French look similar and share almost the same way of life...

[@morzhed-hoqh732]

@@dennisstafford1749 Ah ! Ok ! Native seems amérindiens ! I didn’t understand. But in France, it is forbidden to use the word “race”.

[@DaShatterstar]

Super funny seeing your reaction! I'm an english Quebecois who speaks a bunch of languages. First off, you would be treating with open arms if ever you visit Quebec... better then how the Quebecois are treated when visiting Paris! We have a bunch of crazy expressions that French people laugh at... like "je monte en haut" or "Je descend en bas". I would love to hear what you think of this therory that my Slovakian friend mentioned while my Parisian friend and I were arguing : Since the people of Quebec have been isolated over 350 years, and that France has mixed with all different types of Europeans, Quebec is the true French. This was the only time I saw my Parisian friend lose his mind!!

[@spqr_3177]

The Québécois (called Canadiens then) were completely cut off from France for about a century, from 1760 to the 1860s. Contacts were quite limited after that, until the XXth century. What's interesting is that the French spoken here is closer to the one spoken in French during the Ancien régime. The Revolution changed all that, of course... So yes, technically, Québécois are still speaking "le français du Roi"!

[@moorek1967]

I have Canadian friends and they have Quebecois relatives. They assumed I was Canadian and knew French so they proceeded to try to talk to me in French and I had no clue.

[@jgwiesen]

Great video! Though I don't speak French one of my favorite bands is the folk group from Quebec "Le Vent du Nord". They are awesome!

[@leaucamouille3394]

At 5:51 the man who looks like a prince (thumbnail hunk) is not from Québec at all. He's an American Mormon who learned some French in high school and spent a few months in Québec trying to convert people to his faith. This interview was posted on a Mormon KZbin channel to help Mormon kids going on international missionary missions (faith preaching /conversion mission) to adapt to the different countries they are sent to. He's just there explaining to other American Mormon teenagers how to linguistically approach Québécois in order to convert them. I watched this interview, some of his basic linguistic and social observations are valid, but clearly he's not even fluent in standard French and he hasn't spent more than a few months here mostly going door-to-door with another American kid trying to introduce the Mormon faith to countryside people who had no clue what they were here for and what they were trying to sell them. That's why he remembers precisely the tone and pronunciation that woman had when she said the word "dehors" (out / outside) because she had understood at that point what they really wanted to talk about, why they had knocked on her door and that they came into her house to proselytize. She then rightfully told them to leave using this emphatic regionalism because that's what comes naturally to our mind when we're mad. He didn't seem to have had any real or significant relations with local people, just doorway chit-chat while passing out his Biblical leaflets. Not really the best language analyst out there. He's quite handsome though. 😉

[@CeltPerson]

Quebec is an extremely friendly place. It is like all the stereotypes of Canadian politeness but wrapped in French culture. My dad's family is entirely French Canadian, but a mix of Acadien and Quebecois families who emigrated to the US during the time when Quebec was in a huge crisis. They were subjected to a lot of shame once they came here, and as such, even though my father understands French, I had to learn the language, history, and culture entirely on my own because my family refused to claim their heritage or language. My partner and I recently took an extended road trip through the eastern half of Canada, spending a lot of time in Quebec and New Brunswick in French speaking areas, and they are now my favorite places on Earth. So kind, warm, humorous, and very open. It did feel like coming home a bit. I would love for you to travel there and see everything and meet the people! Even with my extremely broken and feeble French language skills, I was treated very well. It is my dream to go back as often as I can, and to improve my French so that I can hopefully one day abandon the English language when I visit!

[@mikes3827]

@FrenchTastic Even though I like your videos (on North America especially), it's your unpretentious attitude that makes you easy & enjoyable to watch/listen to. Keep doing what you're doing. Quebecois French has a pretty accent, IMO, and if you look at the state of Maine, there is a LARGE lineage of French-Canadian families and visitors in the area. The nearby summer resort ocean town of Old Orchard Beach is around 50%+/- of cars having Quebec license plates. Local Maine residents say OOB is "The Quebecois Riviera" as to who you will likely encounter. But the Quebecois who visit are almost without incident. They mostly just wanna unwind on some 7+ mile white sand beach called OOB, get some sun, hang out, then they drive back home to Quebec again. I spent my formative years in southern Maine (about 45 minutes to OOB), LOOOOVED growing up there, and one of my best friends (Paul) routinely spoke fluent French between himself and his mother (his mother was born in Quebec, grew up speaking French). So even though I'm not French (closest I can get is Portugal), I have an affinity for many things French/French-Canadian/Cajun. One place you should definitely check out this summer is a visit to Quebec City. VERY beautiful city. QC is also the most European-feeling city in North America, according to many ppl, when talking about the place. Oh yeah, and as I'm a HUUUUUUGE hockey fan, French Canadian hockey players are legendary for the number of iconic stars (e.g. Mario Lemieux, Maurice Richard, Guy LaFluer, Marcel Dionne, Gilbert Perreault, etc., etc) that have all made some of hockey's most impactful moments that came out of the Quebecois. So you have no choice but to respect the Quebecois who have GREATLY contributed to hockey. (NOTE: While I do have an affinity for French/Canadian-French culture, sports/hockey, food, etc., I'm from Boston and LOVE the Boston Bruins, which automatically means I HATE our heated rivals, the fabled Montreal Canadiens.)

[@leaucamouille3394]

Wow thanks for being such a good neighbour Mike! I appreciated the friendly tone of your comment and it reminded me how beautiful Maine and its people are and the many lovely vacations I spent there as a child. Canadiens vs. Bruins are the only games I actually care about and watch! Says it all! 😅

[@mikes3827]

@@leaucamouille3394 Hi Aurelie. Did you visit OOB or other parts of Maine? I only ask about the OOB part because I'm assuming the 'neighbour' comment means that you're a Quebecois? Like I mentioned, the running joke among we Mainers was/is that on any given summer's day, you will likely encounter more Quebec license plates than you will Maine, so it is VERY popular among the Quebecois. P.S. I know that temporarily the NHL has Canadian-only teams playing other Canadian teams, but for those talking about keeping the NHL with an "All-Canada Division" is stupid. Besides, what kind of NHL is it if the Habs and Bruins don't meet up a few times a year and provide BIG TIME atmosphere that only the Habs-Bruins (maybe Habs-Nordiques in the day) can provide?? No thanks. I never thought I'd say this, but I miss the Habs LOLOL.

[@michaelcrummy8397]

My NJ Devils need to be relegated with Buffalo like they do in the English Premier League in soccer. When Dr. McMullen owned the Devils, they won 3 Cups. These current owners can’t hold a candle to him.

[@SnarkNSass]

Ok, Mz FrenchTastic.🙄 You actually had me at the Cajunz😅 but I Subd n Belld just now. You made it onto a few of my Playlists also.🌟 I love language and accents and words the similarities and differences Etc. French is kinda my Language Nemesis. I'll leave it at that... for now.😂 ❤️🧡💛💚💙💜❤️✌🏻🖖😎🐥😁

[@pauld9948]

I think it maybe would be a little like what Canadian & American anglophones think about the British accents sounding more elegant than our own?

[@FenderBassMan]

Except, perhaps, in the case of native English-speaking soccer/futbol players after a Premier League match. West Ham's Jesse Lingard left me completely baffled.

[@johnfitzgerald7618]

I'm not trying to start an argument, but in what way do you think British accents are more elegant than Canadian ones? Just wondering. I've never understood that belief.

[@spqr_3177]

Exactly. Québécois is not a language, it's just a regional variation of French. Like American or Australian English.

[@Marcel_Audubon]

sez who??

[@koa022]

Other differences, here, we have Déjeûner, dîner and souper, while you have petit-déjeûner, déjeûner and dîner . ''Gosses'' in France means children, kids, while here, it means testicules . We don't use ''tronche'' or ''bouille''when speaking about our faces, we say ''cul'' instead of ''troufion'' We don't use ''bordel'' to swear, it just means a maison de débaûche (brothel) or a grand désordre (a big mess) . We never say ''putain'', we use the F word ;) we say ''à soir'' or ''à matin'' instead of ''ce soir'' and ''ce matin'' ''Chialer'' here means râler, and it means pleurer in France . A ''Michel Morin'' here is ''un homme à tout faire'' We say balayeuse instead of aspirateur, etc . . . There are just so many differences, that it is 2 different languages using the same words for the most lol

[@FrenchTastic]

😳😳🤩

[@rvprossjjlrzar]

Hello!! Thank you for doing this wonderful reaction to other French speaking people. Can I ask you if will be doing similar reactions to other countries that also speak French? I'm curious to know if the language varies in those places as well. I do hear the differences in the accents of Quebec and Louisiana though I only speak English. I have been listening to your French conversation help videos but I must admit it's the pronunciation that gets me and I am fairly certain I am failing.😅. I won't give up though.

[@charlesbecker6305]

I love your channel. Could you give example's of how they speak and then how you speak? "I say it this way and they pronounce it this way! That would be helpful. Thanks

[@uptonsavoie]

I went to a Quebecois French school in Rhode Island, and what French I can command at present is pretty much that of La Belle Provence. I can view a French-Canadian movie and understand it pretty well, but when I see a movie made in France, I appreciate the subtitles!

[@johnnyskinwalker4095]

A Quebecois French school in Rhode Island? that is so weird! How does that happen? lol

[@SuperShiningDawn]

''La Belle Province'' Provence is a region of France. Province is more like a canadian equivalent of a state in the US.

[@joyg4387]

@@johnnyskinwalker4095 Hi, I’m from RI.....yes, that would seem peculiar! The northernmost city here is Woonsocket, which has a large majority of French Canadian people who immigrated there for factory work many, many years ago......now that the factories have closed the area is pretty economically distressed, but French pride in their culture is alive and well....there is also a museum, too.....nice people....

[@Gweeper64]

@@joyg4387 Woonsocket, where they pahk the cah side by each

[@joyg4387]

@@Gweeper64 oh yes! Hahaha 😝

[@Green-Lyon]

Always love your videos! 💛

[@thefalloutshelter7799]

It would be interesting to see you listen to French from St. Pierre et Miquelon. They are 2 small islands off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada that are actual French Territories still belonging to France.......they celebrate France holidays (the people are citizens of France), spend Euros and we even have to pay international rates if we use our cell phones there even though they are a 30 minute ferry ride away

[@sharondwyer8513]

I lived in Quebec for 3 years and I did a little research and found the French they speak in Quebec is the older version of French during colonial times. Since they have little outside influence in smaller French Quebec towns, not much has changed

[@eb.3764]

As someone who learned French as a 4th language in Canada, j'adore l'accent québécois. en fait, toutes mes professeurs étaient québécoises. C'est l'accent que je connais et quand j'ai rencontré une française pour la première fois, elle m'a beaucoup melangé et j'avais de la misère à la comprendre.

[@rocosuavez]

I guess it depends from what region of France , since i watched a lot of French movies as a young boy it helps ,once my French friend said "j'ai la flem" ..WTF... apparently it means he is bored , never heard that one before ,I understand but find them to speak slower than most Quebecers.

[@eb.3764]

@@rocosuavez no. i had never heard a french accent before, like ever before thàt moment. i didnt understand a thing.

[@rocosuavez]

@@eb.3764 OK i get it now . well i learned French from my mother who learned it in France so she had French accent and she used to correct me like no not MOE moi and not TOE toi and so on but that wasn't cool with the other kids and they thought i was a snob...and got forbit if i said ESTI oh shit i was in trouble big time...

[@eb.3764]

@@rocosuavez moé and toé was the pronunciation before the 1900's in every french speaking area

[@benoitlambert100]

Once a French woman from France was visiting the Rocky Mountains in Canada and came across a French Canadian man. When he started speaking to her she replied" I am sorry I don't speak English". The Quebecois accent confused her greatly. True story.

[@earthbob]

The contrast between Parisian French and French Quebec is understood and appreciated. French Quebec is certainly interesting when listening to someone from Paris or Burgundy. Along the St Lawrence River The Queens English is spoken on the Canadian side versus American English in New York State. Spelling contrasts include colour versus color. Pronouncing schedule is very different. Towards Cornwall, Ontario and Massena, New York is the Mohawk Nation Akwesasne that is partly in Quebec Canada and New York State where the Mohawk Language is spoken. You would notice a change in Quebec French dialect near there than that in Montreal. The same is true with English. So, those of us in the Thousand Islands have to turn our ears "on" and we can "hear" where someone is from. Here is an example: A Canadian might say: "Get off my car, eh!" Someone from New York City might say. EH! Get off my car! Your efforts with language are appreciated. Syntex is the core of thought. Enjoy your weekend.

[@nooneyouknowhere6148]

I was born in the north country of new york, our farm was in Massena. My grandparents would not allow my dad and his siblings to speak french after WWII. they were american and thus to speak english, even though my ancestor emmigrated to the Ilse de Montréal in thec1600's from france. I think Canadian french is probably like American english and hss its roots in an older version of the language and has modernized on a slightly different path. I would think some Canadian words are probably more like the older words.

[@earthbob]

@@nooneyouknowhere6148 My ancestors landed in Trois Rivers, Que in 1671, Mathurin GAUTHIER dit LANDREVILLE was born about 1641 in Bretagne, France. He and his wife Nicole PHILIPPEAU had 16 children in "New France". Have lived along the St Lawrence from Cape Vincent to Akwasasne in my Life. Wintered two years doing Acid Rain Research around Cranberry Lake in the Adirondacks in the 70's. In looking up my ancestry before the Internet we would have to find both French and English documents, as well as different church records. We summered on the River in Waddington in 1960, just after the Seaway opened. My Dad has 8 mm films of the different engineering works, like the locks and power dams. He also captured some film of different villages and roads that were flooded for the Seaway. There are only two seasons in the North Country: Winter and Bad Sledding.

[@nooneyouknowhere6148]

@@earthbob my mother's family are from waddington on her father's side and madrid on her mother's side. She tals about going across the st Lawrence on a pontoon bridge while they were building the seaway. My ancestor Pierre Héry dit duPlanti came from Santonge France to Montreal. My great great grandfather moved to Parishville NY in about 1830. My paternal grandmother's people are the LaValle's . Also have Prajean (now Prashaw) on my mother's side. Just a little french in me. Of course if you have ancestors who were early settlers in Northern NY, they were probably french or scottish descent.

[@earthbob]

@@nooneyouknowhere6148 My ancestors went from Quebec to Malone via Vermont before there was a USA. My heritage is French, Green Irish and Orange Irish. We did go across on the ferry between Ogdensburg and Prescott when I was young. We were on our way to visit Ottawa at that time. They were building the Ogdensburg to Prescott Bridge. My Dad was the Engineer in Charge of a number of state road projects, so we stayed in different places along the river during our Summer Vacations. When he did the Alexandria Bay to Morristown NYS 12 we stayed in Morristown two different Summers near Jacque Cartier Park. We would boat over to Brockville for Chinese Food. Dad also did I-81from the 1000 Island Bridge across Wellesley Island to Us-Canada Customs, and before that did I-81 from La Fargeville to the 1000 Islands Bridge. After spending 14 years in DC I returned and lived in Alexandria Bay and Wellesley Island. Have been out of the North Country or 10 years now.

[@nooneyouknowhere6148]

@@earthbob cool. After my parent's divorce we moved to texas in 1976. I go back home as often as possible. The north country is still beautiful and still home to me. I dream of possibly having a summer place either on the St Lawrence in waddington, or on the Grasse river in Madrid.

[@AlainNaigeon]

Il y a aussi des gens qui parlent fançais dans l'Ontario, près de Sudbury !

[@claudest-gelais8456]

Don't forget Noth Bay, Thunderbay, Kapuskasing. The more north you go, the more French you find!

[@stacieeckhardt9578]

I had the pleasure of visiting Le Havre and Paris and Normandie. When I spoke in Québécois French. I got lots of smiles and giggles. One lady said I have a peasant accent but she loved it. I did not know how take it but I enjoyed the chance to speak to them all

[@charlesvaughn2192]

I would love to see you watching one of the cooking shows by Justin Wilson the Cajun humorist-if you can understand his accent, you'll be good to go . Love your giggles

[@rbo350]

i think your right, Quebec bigger than Texas so I'm sure there are slightly different accents in different parts of the province

[@pmvitale]

Theirs a KZbin lawyer I watch from Quebec (Viva Frei) that occasionally will use French reading judgements. For some reason I liken it to French Klingon.

[@namegoeshereorhere5020]

I dated a girl from France(Dijon area) not long after I got out of high school and thought it would be a great opportunity for me to get better at speaking French but since I was taught Quebecois French and she was completely fluent in English we always spoke English because she said she couldn't understand anything I was saying.