<p>just wondering…is there a big diffrence between the two…like accents, grammar, vocab, argot, etc…caz i heard they are quite different</p>
<p>will u be able to communicate if u only know real french? because i only know swiss romande french (sort of similar to french in france)…even then i have difficulty understanding the french spoken in some places in france…</p>
<p>I’d consider yourself a little better off than someone like I, who has only taken french in high school, and for whom accents don’t really mean anything. I havent heard enough parisian and quebecer french to tell the general difference. But the two, I hear, are fairly different, with quebecoise being much more nasaly, and of course with different slang and local terms.</p>
<p>yeah, I think the biggest difference would be the slang and the more colloquial stuff. I’m sure you’ll be just fine. A friend from France said that he found their (Quebecois) french weird, but he still got by just fine. You should consider yourself very lucky.</p>
<p>you’ll get around fine. their accent is differen’t tho (my parisian friend calls it something like the quebecois country bumpkin accent haha)</p>
<p>I had a teacher from Tunisia who spoke Parisian French, and I was educated with 11 years of Quebecois French-- I had no problem. A lot of the differences are words you’ll easily get used to (the meals, for instance, are different). You should have no problem!</p>
<p>yea…the meal names are kinda funny. I don’t know what roast beef in Parisian French is, but I saw them call it Rosbif or something like that in Montreal. I also heard that the French French have adapted more English words in their everyday vocab. For example, they’d say le weekend and the Quebecois would say le fin de semaine. But would understand both anyway, right?</p>
<p>I heard somewhere that stop signs in France say “stop” and stop signs in Quebec are in French because of Bill 101, etc. </p>
<p>That said, you’ll definitely find people speaking “Franglais”.</p>
<p>actaully bittersweet…i think its the otherway around </p>
<p>French here is very anti-english…they really hate it and get ****ed off when you try to use english words…i think the quebec french has been more accepting…like someone told me they say “beverage” like in english in the menu…while here they write “boission”
the organisation or head of the french language thing…wateva its called (it determines what is correct french)…they came out a couple of years ago and said that you cannot use “le weekend” its not proper french or watever…so in france and here…everyone says “fin de la semaine” now… </p>
<p>they also have strict rules on what can be broadcast on television…like in france u cannot have the dual language system…where u get hear the orignal language as well (they do in switerzland though)
also u have to broadcast a certain amount of “french” programs a month…</p>
<p>the stop signs in france say “arret” and here in geneva they say “stop”</p>
<p>well anyway my point is…they really hate english in these parts…they won’t talk you in english even if they know it…like the customs officers on french/swiss border always question my dad in french (even though they know he cannot speak in french and they can speak fluent english)…and they always stop him and question him just to **** him off…</p>
<p>yeah, I think it’s like the Academie Francaise or something. I guess my information’s kinda out-dated then. Well, I like it better that way. Keep English English and French French. Although don’t be anal about it. Canadian broadcasting is also pretty strict about Canadian content.</p>
<p>yea I speak french too, but at hoem itsd more like franglais, we mix up french and english in the same sentence, i’m looknig forward to quebecois’ making fun of my french as I’ve heard they do, its all in good fun though. :P</p>
<p>i don’t understand what you mean by “real” french because quebecois is as real as any other french dialects. in comparison to dialects found in paris or marseilles, quebecois is most definitely different… my french friend said that people who speak quebecois seem to sound like english speakers talking in french w/ different accent. quebecois also has different words for different meanings, so people find that a little weird/different sometimes. grammar is not different though… this i can tell you because ive learned french in canada for 5 yrs and have gone to france for a month to study, and i’ve had no problem communicating… i spoke quebecois while i was there, but i didnt have any problem with communications (unless they spoke too fast, but that’s a different issue :))</p>
<p>oh sorry… i call french spoken in france “real french”…the french u learn in school (or one i learnt anyway)…its not really real french i guess…</p>
<p>I think “original french” is the p.c. term we’re all looking for here</p>
<p>Its almost like Scotish english versus American english… its the same… while remaining very different.</p>
<p>I’m a bilingual “quebecois” and I can tell you that “proper french” (which is btw not france french but an international version that is used during news broadcasts, olympic games, ect.) is very similar to quebecois. Of course, like in english, people who speak well (educated folk) will speak very coherently while others (more…euh…less educated) will speak horribly with slang words and horrible grammar.
In montreal, you’ll hear both.</p>
<p>If you’ve got a good understanding of the french language from highschool classes, you probably won’t have a hard time picking up the oddities of quebec french. If I watch a french TV show I can tell whether it’s from France or Quebec, but I understand both equally. Personally, I don’t want to develop a Quebec accent, because I find it too nasaly, but I think you learn to blend in with what’s surrounding you. In short, I’m sure we’ll be able to catch on to the subtle differences between the two.</p>
<p>will it make a huge difference if I take a French grammar course in September. I was debating between doing Listening Comprehension and Oral Expression 1, Written and Oral French 1, or not doing any french at all. I thought that maybe interacting with French people will be enough to remember the language? I took French all four grades of high school, but it’s been a year since I last took French.</p>
<p>same here- to a different extent though. i’m just afraid of seeing my french go downhill, i’ll never forget it, it’s my first language, but when i’m not completely immersed for too long, i stumble over things i shouldn’t too often and my vocabulary is, let’s just say, lacking. i’m too sensitive to my environment, i sound tunisian most of the time now, speaking broken french
how about this: you wouldn’t have to risk your GPA- there must be places where you can just take french class outside the regular context, the continuing education centre thing sounds okay (not like i know very much about it)</p>
<p>what continuing education centre?</p>
<p>when do we even take a french placememnt test to see which level course we should be taking?</p>
<p>can AP scores count as a placement test?</p>