Learn France French for Quebec? (school, live, vs.)

[geronimos87]

I believe it's always best to learn the most standard dialect when learning a foreign language. For this reason, you should learn Metropolitan France French, as you will have a much easier time being understood by other Francophones around the world than if you were to learn Quebecois French.

[Mad Max]

Originally Posted by geronimos87

I believe it's always best to learn the most standard dialect when learning a foreign language. For this reason, you should learn Metropolitan France French, as you will have a much easier time being understood by other Francophones around the world than if you were to learn Quebecois French.

If the original poster is planning on possibly moving to Montréal, France French won't do him much good. It'll be enough to be understood and get by, but it's not the dialect that will benefit him the most. He'll need to know Québec French. Someone moving to the United States would have a much easier time learning American English than learning British English.

[avironneur]

I speak Quebec French (natively) and have no issues being understand in France either when I speak with a more moderate internatonal dialect - you can learn France French and you will then pick up Quebec slang and idioms after you live in Quebec for some time.

[green_mariner]

I have a friend who is a native French speaker. He lived in both France and Quebec. According to him, people in Montreal could understand him when he was speaking French, but he couldn't understand them because the French being spoken was Quebecois French.

[avironneur]

He would have been able to pick up the dialect after living there for a while. It's the same as someone from London England trying to understand people in Alabama. With concentration and time, it will come

[northstar22]

Originally Posted by geronimos87

I believe it's always best to learn the most standard dialect when learning a foreign language. For this reason, you should learn Metropolitan France French, as you will have a much easier time being understood by other Francophones around the world than if you were to learn Quebecois French.

Why? That makes about as much sense as learning London English for moving to Mississippi. People will have a very hard time understanding you, and vice-versa. You should learn the dialect of the place where you live / plan to move. I'm learning Québec French because I'm from the far northern United States. The VAST majority of French speakers I run across will be Canadians (or even Americans from Maine or Vermont), not people from France. It's the same reason why Québec Francophones learn Canadian English, not British or Australian English.

Plus, in my personal opinion, I find Parisian French overly stuffy and pretentious-sounding.

[VirtualAmerican]

Originally Posted by northstar22

Why? That makes about as much sense as learning London English for moving to Mississippi. People will have a very hard time understanding you, and vice-versa. You should learn the dialect of the place where you live / plan to move. I'm learning Québec French because I'm from the far northern United States. The VAST majority of French speakers I run across will be Canadians (or even Americans from Maine or Vermont), not people from France.

Couldn't have explained it better. Alternatively, if you're not planning to move to an area speaking a different language than your own, then a good rule to go by is to learn the dialect spoken by the largest body of population that is CLOSEST to you in terms of physical distance.

Originally Posted by northstar22

It's the same reason why Québec Francophones learn Canadian English, not British or Australian English.

Actually, a lot of them (like me - I grew up a French-speaking Québecer) are/were mostly taught American English instead of the Canadian variety because there are more Americans than English-speaking Canadians as a whole (305 million vs. roughly 24 million) and that both regions physically border Québec. If one follows the guidelines I've laid out above, it really makes much more sense for a Québecer to learn American English than Canadian English for everyday use. Not to mention that, for most Québecers not living or working near Ottawa or the West Island, "everyday use" will mostly consist in weekend shopping trips to Plattsburgh NY, Burlington VT and North Conway NH, summer trips to Old Orchard ME as well as New York City and of course, winter vacations in Florida.

If you ask the vast majority of native French speakers in Québec to write something in English, you'll instantly notice that they spell words the American way: e.g. color, favor, neighbor, center, meter, program, dialog, check (the banking kind), etc. It wasn't until I got to an English-speaking university that I really began to encounter people spelling these words the Canadian way.

Similarly, unless they lived among Canadian English speakers for a significant amount of time, they usually won't tend to exhibit their known colloquialisms and speech patterns (pronouncing out and about as something that sounds subtly like "oat and aboat," saying "eh?" at the end of sentences and using specific Canadian slang words such as double-double, hoser and two-four).

[zortation]

I've heard Quebec french being referred to as the king's french, which always intrigued me. The argument goes that it's actually "older" than continental french, which has changed and morphed slightly over time. It makes sense though, that a language that separated 400 years ago and then developed in isolation has kept many "old" attributes.

I kick myself for not going beyond grade 9 french...

[VirtualAmerican]

Originally Posted by zortation

I've heard Quebec french being referred to as the king's french, which always intrigued me. The argument goes that it's actually "older" than continental french, which has changed and morphed slightly over time. It makes sense though, that a language that separated 400 years ago and then developed in isolation has kept many "old" attributes.

You are entirely correct.

[jambo101]

Originally Posted by zortation

I've heard Quebec french being referred to as the king's french, which always intrigued me. The argument goes that it's actually "older" than continental french, which has changed and morphed slightly over time. It makes sense though, that a language that separated 400 years ago and then developed in isolation has kept many "old" attributes.

I kick myself for not going beyond grade 9 french...

Whether its older or not it certainly has been inundated with Americanisms and may not be as pure as it was 200 years ago.
Buying lunch for the guys ==Eh deux hot dog all dressed chaque pour toute la gang la