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I "fret" that Quebeckers are saying "froid" instead of "frette".
"Frette" is an antiquated word from old French that means the exact same thing as "froid". It is still heard regularly in Quebec, especially to emphasize when it is really, really cold. Like last week: Il fait pas froid, il fait frette!
"Frette" is an antiquated word from old French that means the exact same thing as "froid". It is still heard regularly in Quebec, especially to emphasize when it is really, really cold. Like last week: Il fait pas froid, il fait frette!
But froid is still what you hear most often.
But is it the case that Quebec French is slowly converging with International French over time? It certainly seems that the heavy Joual and country ways of speaking of older people seems more distinct from the French of France than what the young people I meet tend to speak. Still farther from European French than NA English varieties of English seem to be from British though.
But is it the case that Quebec French is slowly converging with International French over time? It certainly seems that the heavy Joual and country ways of speaking of older people seems more distinct from the French of France than what the young people I meet tend to speak. Still farther from European French than NA English varieties of English seem to be from British though.
It is definitely moving closer to standard international French for sure. I think I have said this before but my kids definitely speak much more similarly to kids in France or elsewhere than I and my siblings and friends did as kids. When we are abroad and they run into kids their age from France their accent is immediately apparent but there are no communication problems. Whereas when I was younger the first few times I met people from France I had to adjust my speech slightly to make myself understood.
As for NA English vs. UK English, compared to Quebec French vs. France French, I'd say the amount of differences is pretty equal. And in fact, the two varieties of French in their written form are actually closer than the English ones.
For example, La Presse (Montreal) and Le Monde (Paris) read almost exactly the same in spelling and vocabulary. There is a bigger difference between the New York Times and the Times of London.
There is a greater comprehension challenge between the two types of French not so much because they are further apart but because UK audiences are more used to hearing American-speak in Pulp Fiction, Seinfeld and Jerry Springer.
Quebec popular culture, comparatively, has a much more modest penetration in France, although it has been growing by leaps and bounds (but will never reach Hollywood's reach in the UK of course).
God, I hope Quebec's rendition of French NEVER disappears.
I was in Quebec in Oct 2011. As usual, it was beautiful. I wound up talking to a bilingual educator on Terrasse Dufferin in Quebec City. He told me that, in the towns between Quebec City and Montreal, those kids ONLY speak French and, at that stage of their lives, the U.S. might be on another continent. He implied that it is a little provincial, but he didn't seem worried, since when Quebecois grow up, they know they are part of a very multicultural milieu - Quebec, Canada, and North America.
It sure as hell isn't disappearing from small towns in Quebec, either. I only walked into a WalMart in Cap de la Madeleine, Quebec, and the ladies in there looked like they had 70s hair and spoke no more than 10 words of English. God bless them, though ... they were outdoing each other to give me directions to what I was looking for. No anti-outsider sentiment whatsoever.
It's not surprising that some words borrowed from English are dying out. I recall my grandparents using pentray, sink, and a whole slew of car-related words. But we still use a lot of English words: boss, chum, cute, lousse, cheap, joke, toast, traf(f)ic, plasteur.. or a bunch of English nouns turned into verbs: braker, challenger, flusher, ploguer. The French do too, but they use different words.
God, I hope Quebec's rendition of French NEVER disappears.
I was in Quebec in Oct 2011. As usual, it was beautiful. I wound up talking to a bilingual educator on Terrasse Dufferin in Quebec City. He told me that, in the towns between Quebec City and Montreal, those kids ONLY speak French and, at that stage of their lives, the U.S. might be on another continent. He implied that it is a little provincial, but he didn't seem worried, since when Quebecois grow up, they know they are part of a very multicultural milieu - Quebec, Canada, and North America.
It sure as hell isn't disappearing from small towns in Quebec, either. I only walked into a WalMart in Cap de la Madeleine, Quebec, and the ladies in there looked like they had 70s hair and spoke no more than 10 words of English. God bless them, though ... they were outdoing each other to give me directions to what I was looking for. No anti-outsider sentiment whatsoever.
Not talking about Quebec French disappearing due to English, that's highly unlikely, we're talking about the influence of European French on the unique words and grammatical features of Quebec and North American French.
I guess the simple answer is that there is effectively an erosion of unique Quebec terms that is taking place. And also certain French from France slang expressions are entering the language on a regular basis (there are many more than when I was a kid.) But this transition is taking place very very slowly.
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