Difference between Quebec and Louisiana (New Orleans, Many: lawyer, house, theatre)

[fellowjoe]

Both are probably the most well-known areas with French influence outside of France yet Quebec seems more popular among tourists. Why is that?

Apart from that one is Canada and has a colder climate than the other one which is in the U.S, what are other differences between both regions? What about their cultural differences especially?


I'd thought it will be interesting to visit Louisiana especially New Orleans sometime.

[Too Old To Care]

I don't live in Louisiana, but I've been there several times. English is the dominant language there, im guessing 98% of the people speak English as a first language. The only time I ever heard the French language spoken in Louisiana was on a radio station that was playing Cajun music. I bet Cajun French is a lot different than Canadian French. Simiilar maybe, but mostly different, in terms of words, grammar, phrases, and accrents.

[jambo101]

Quebec is almost 90% French speaking, all the signs are in French,most of the people speak French all the time, i suppose many think they are going to a little piece of France when they go to Quebec.
Louisiana French is just cultural heritage from a bygone era and not that prevalent compared to Quebec.

[diablo234]

Quebec is way more liberal in a political sense than Louisiana for starters, plus it is way more influenced by French culture including having a majority of the population speaking French.

Most people in Louisiana don't speak the French language for starters (mostly because they discouraged it in the past, although there are some attempts to revive the language in schools) and in Northern Louisiana most people don't even have a French/French Creole influence or background. Not to mention the fact that Quebec lacks the large influence of Blacks/African Americans which provided a large foundation for current Louisiana culture.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by fellowjoe

Both are probably the most well-known areas with French influence outside of France yet Quebec seems more popular among tourists. Why is that?

I am not really sure that Quebec is more popular with tourists. New Orleans is a huge domestic and international tourist destination.

In reality, both Quebec and Louisiana are quite popular with tourists.

[sam56729]

Know it all is off by a hundred years or so...and Napoleon wasn't even born when the Acadians were exiled in the 1740s (aka the Grand d'Arrangement)

Similarities/Differences:

Both Acadia and Quebec were founded by the French, but the Acadians were much more isolated from the rest of the French. They were also in more frequent contact with the British because of their close proximity to the New England colonies.

When the French Crown allowed settlement of North America, one requirement was that any emigrees had to be baptized, practicing Catholics. A group of the emigrees, such as Isaac Bedard, were actually Calvinists, but they wanted out of France so much that they were rebaptized in the Catholic Church and practised that faith for the rest of their lives. At the same time, the Melancon/Melanson family of Acadia was actually an interesting story in a Huguenot father named LaVerdure who escaped persecution in France and settled in Britain. He married Priscilla Melanson (probably a Scot, but possibly English...the jury remains out). Then his sons served in the British military and were sent to the New England colonies. They met and married young women from Acadia and reverted to the Catholic faith from which their father had run away. They are the largest single Acadian family and nearly all Cajuns descend from these brothers.

Acadian emigration from France ended pretty early. They weren't adding new settlers by the end of the 1600s. The villages remained small and isolated. Conversely, the Crown continued trying to populate the Quebec colony for several decades more. But the Crown was losing patience with the expensive colonies, especially after they were forced to import women (the filles du roi) to keep the men from killing each other.

One major difference between the Quebecois and the Acadians is that the Quebecois had more contact with France and had a more modern dialect of the language. After the Grand D'Arrangement, many Acadians were returned to France and couldn't even communicate with the French because their dialect was so old and outdated.

Many Acadians were taken as slaves by the British and were sent to New England and the Atlantic colonies. They fared better than the African slaves, but they were still slaves in a land where people spoke a foreign language.

The Quebecois were allowed to retain their French language after the British took over their colony. They were also never force into any kind of servitude. When they crossed into the American colonies and states, they were often quite welcomed.

The route for many of the Acadians to make their way out of British lands was often very difficult. Some escaped their captivity in the American colonies and made their way into the Caribbean colonies of Spain and France (the King of Spain was the nephew of the King of France and gave the Acadians refuge). Many think the Acadians just escaped directly to New Orleans, but the truth is much more complicated. Some went all the way back to Europe before being sent back, then finding their way south in order to go west.

Another interesting group for you to research is the Acadians who settled on the Ile St-Pierre and Miquelon. To this day it's the only French colony in North America.

The Cajuns retained remnants of their language after relocating to Louisiana. The Quebecois who resettled in New England adopted the American dialect and lost their Quebecois dialect.

[ragnarkar]

Quebec would have become like Louisiana today if the British (and later, Canadian) government didn't promise to preserve the French language and culture there back in the days.. or Louisiana may have become like Quebec (or maybe New Brunswick) today if nothing was done to discourage the use of French a century ago.

[Lizap]

Quebec is much safer than New Orleans.

[fezzador]

Originally Posted by Lizap

Quebec is much safer than New Orleans.

It's also much richer.

[mapleguy]

As a Canadian Province, Quebec has a distinct and thriving film, theatre, and music scene.


A whole separate entertainment world, with movie stars, TV personalities, and authors. French language TV network, radio network, radio stations, daily newspapers, and of course all of the professional disciplines are conducted in French. If you want to practice as a MD in Quebec, you have to be fluent (speak read and write in French. ) Same for a lawyer or engineer.


I doubt that any of that exists ( in the French language ) in Louisiana .


French is one of the two Official Languages in Canada. It has equal status to English. The Federal Government is required by law to provide services in French where there is a demand for it. Most Federal Government agencies operate in a bilingual manner. French speakers are to be found at many locations in the Federal Civil Service. Example are the Canadian Border Services Agency, the Canadian Armed Forces, and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.


In Parliament, the debates and discussions in the House take place in both French and English, with simultaneous translation. The Speaker must be fluently bi-lingual in order to regulate the business in the chamber. It is also required that the Queen's representative in Canada be fluently bi-lingual. He/she is the head of State in Canada. The current Governor General is a former member of the Canadian aerospace program, a commercial pilot, and a triple degree holder.


XXX.