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I beg to differ. A French Canadian can pick out instantly when an American speaks French to them having learned International French in the USA in high school or college. I will grant that some is accent, but a lot of it is the different words and syntax. International French never teaches you to say 'Bon Matin' in the morning as the Quebecois do.
I never it said it was all about accent, and agree there are some different words and syntax.
And BTW, International English never teaches you to say ''y'all'' either...
the difference is greatly exaggerated its not patois. yes a few words and expressions are different but not enough to cause a train wreck. quebec people understand parisian french.
Another interesting point is that when written, Quebec French is actually a lot closer to France French than US and UK English are to each other. The two varieties of French are basically identical in terms of spelling and grammar. Whereas especially in spelling there are significant UK-US differences.
You will have no more difficulty understanding or being understood than you would had you gone to Haiti or the Michelon Islands.
This is true of St-Pierre-et-Miquelon which is part of France and where people speak quite similarly to people in metropolitan (European) France.
But it is not at all true of Haiti, where only a minority of the population speaks French. The main language of Haiti is Haitian Creole, spoken by everyone. Although it has some French words in it, it is considered its own language by linguists and is much more different from standard European French than Quebec/Canadian French is.
so- here is a question to the Canadians- why in the world do they teach International French to students in Canada and not Canadian French? Do we teach British English to students in the US? I think not
so- here is a question to the Canadians- why in the world do they teach International French to students in Canada and not Canadian French? Do we teach British English to students in the US? I think not
I also found this absolutely ridiculous and I like to categorize myself as a victim from this dumb decision. I started learning French in Ontario and after a year I thought I was pretty damn good. I moved to Montreal only to find out that I couldn't understand anything.
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