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Quebec as a Language Learning Destination | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages |  | |
| Nature Diglot Groupie Canada Joined 5237 days ago 63 posts - 80 votes  Speaks: English*, French | Message 41 of 46 27 October 2011 at 6:40pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
If we want to make the distinction between a Quebecois and a Frenchman we'll just call the Frenchman a French from France! And I'm of Italian descent (well no not descent I also have Italian citizenship) and our dessert consists of fruits. So to me personally, the idea of saving room for dessert just makes absolutely no sense. Dessert ism't healthy for you. It shouldn't be taken priority over a healthy meal. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| Arekkusu Hexaglot Senior Member Canada bit.ly/qc_10_lec Joined 5381 days ago 3971 posts - 7747 votes Speaks: English, French*, GermanC1, Spanish, Japanese, Esperanto Studies: Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Estonian | Message 42 of 46 27 October 2011 at 7:58pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
A little biased? I think it's quite a bit more than that. I'd lean closer to despise, contempt or down-right hatred. I lived in Montréal for a big part of my life and I have no idea what you mean when you talk about "a huge divide between the "French" and the Europeans". After all, Québec is the most European-like place of all of North America. You say you've lived your whole life in Québec but you don't get along with the "French". That must have been one miserable life you had. I would have simply left. Edited by Arekkusu on 27 October 2011 at 9:27pm 5 persons have voted this message useful | |||||||||
| Arekkusu Hexaglot Senior Member Canada bit.ly/qc_10_lec Joined 5381 days ago 3971 posts - 7747 votes Speaks: English, French*, GermanC1, Spanish, Japanese, Esperanto Studies: Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Estonian | Message 43 of 46 27 October 2011 at 8:07pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
When I was little, I would often go visit my grand-parents who lived on a farm in the countryside. They weren't rich, but every time we went, my grandma would go pick blueberries, strawberries and raspberries in her garden and bake pies. I have no idea how she did it, but there were always at least a dozen pies in her kitchen and everyone could pick one and take it home. No matter what we had for supper, I guarantee you, we all saved room for dessert. I think you could get rid of the attitude and learn to look at things with a more positive outlook. 4 persons have voted this message useful | |||||||||
| iguanamon Pentaglot Senior Member Virgin Islands Speaks: Ladino Joined 5262 days ago 2241 posts - 6731 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Portuguese, Haitian Creole, Creole (French) | Message 44 of 46 27 October 2011 at 8:58pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
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I used to wonder why the Quebec license plates' motto was "Je me souviens". Now I know why.
Edited by iguanamon on 27 October 2011 at 9:16pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| Nature Diglot Groupie Canada Joined 5237 days ago 63 posts - 80 votes Speaks: English*, French | Message 45 of 46 27 October 2011 at 10:46pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
I wrote a huge response to this but you know what, you're right. It's not despise, it's jealousy. I am extremely jealous that French people can speak French so well and I have a hard time with it. My father always tells me, "your sister and I speak French so well, why can't you? You won't get a job with how you speak French." And it bothers me to NO END. I want to be as bilingual as they are but it's so hard. Doesn't help that growing up the kids on my street would laugh at how bad my French is. Ugh, guess I just have to deal with it no time for self pity. I actually thank you guys for calling me out cause It made me open my eyes :) Edited by Nature on 27 October 2011 at 11:20pm 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||||||||
| lecavaleur Diglot Senior Member Canada Joined 4777 days ago 146 posts - 295 votes Speaks: English*, French Studies: German, Spanish | Message 46 of 46 28 October 2011 at 2:12am | IP Logged | ||||||||
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Quebec is a great place to learn French for the person who knows what he or she wants out of the experience.
First off, only about 5% of the world's French speakers are Canadian citizens. However, if you want to learn a standard, internationally intelligible French, this is totally possible in Quebec. If, on the other hand, you want to learn the informal Québécois dialect, to which the rest of the Francophonie is quite under-exposed, this is also possible, but you must realise in that case that it will not be widely understood outside French-speaking Canada. On the subject of which side of the Atlantic is more anglicised, I think both camps would do well to realise that they both use more English than is necessary. It is true that European francophones are less offended by English in marketing campaigns and in a select few daily expressions. However, the French in France will be the first to admit that the average Frenchman's ability to speak English is next to nothing. The French are notoriously unable to speak English, generally speaking. There are more unilingual French speakers in France than anywhere else on Earth. France is the only country that is more or less unilingually French. Absolutely everything is in French there, and this has been the case for a very long time. Quebec, on the other hand, despite official pretensions toward unilingualism, is very much a multi-lingual society. It is both the most bilingual and the most trilingual place in North America. 40% of Quebeckers consdider themselves bilingual in French and English. Subject to the federal Constitution Act of 1982 (despite not having signed it), the Quebec State is required to offer government services in English to anyone requesting them and even English education to those who qualify. Quebec has 3 English universities, two of which are major, and one of which is considered the 'Harvard of Canada'. When I turn on the television, easily half of the channels are in English. English books and films are readily available everywhere. Add to that the fact that Francophones themselves have only had wide access to higher education in French for 50 years and the right to be served and work in French only since 1977, and you've got one hell of a breeding ground for anglicisms. I know very few everyday Quebeckers, for example, who are able to get into a car and tell me the proper French term for its components. In Quebec, the car is something described almost entirely with anglicisms (la clutch, le windshield, le brake, le dash, le bumper, le tank à gaz, etc.) Quebeckers use hundreds of anglicisms in everyday life, some of which they aren't even aware (smatte, chum, moppe, assumer [au sens de présumer], f**ké, tanker le char, I could go on and on.). There are also another couple hundred calques which Quebeckers are not generally aware (bienvenue comme réponse à merci, bon matin, etc.). I have lived in Canada for 5 years, first in Quebec for 3 years (Chicoutimi), then in Ontario two years and now back in Quebec (Sherbrooke). I came back to Quebec because I love French and I love being able to speak it everyday, everywhere I go. Quebeckers are generally nice people, but it can sometimes be difficult to crack into their circles of friends, which have existed generally since childhood. The entire 3 years I was in Chicoutz (as I call it), I had only two or three Québécois friends, I mean good friends that you go out with, eat with, travel with, etc. Their common trait was that they were anglophiles and wanted someone they could speak English with (this usually didn't work with me, because I stubbornly speak French everywhere and with everyone). All my other many francophone friends and roommates here have been European or African. I am perhaps the only person to have acquired a French accent in Quebec because it is within that cultural community that I have assimilated. Quebec is very live-and-let-live. This is how a groups of French and African expats (and event communities from other countries) can exist and hang out and do everything together without many interactions with the Québécois majority. They mind their business, we mind ours and all in good faith. I interact with Québécois people every day. My classmates at Université de Sherbrooke are almost all from here, and I'm cool with all of them. My study partners are both Québécoise and despite the occasional joke about my French accent or when I use a typically French expression, we get along great. Anyway, long story short, if you want to master the basics of French and attain a level of everyday fluency as a launching point for the comprehension and/or acquisition of other more commonly spoken varieties of French (i.e. France or African), Quebec is a perfectly acceptable place to do so. Go for it. 5 persons have voted this message useful |
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