Alvinho Triglot Senior Member Brazil Joined 6240 days ago 828 posts - 832 votes Speaks: Portuguese*, English, Spanish
| Message 1 of 6 29 December 2009 at 6:30pm | IP Logged |
I'm planning to live and work in Canada next year.
Is it possible to find French schools which offer courses for low-budget people outside Quebec?
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tpark Tetraglot Pro Member Canada Joined 7052 days ago 118 posts - 127 votes Speaks: English*, German, Dutch, French Personal Language Map
| Message 2 of 6 29 December 2009 at 11:40pm | IP Logged |
Many places have some sort of continuing education courses which are not terribly expensive. You may get better answers if you narrow down where you are going to live and work, as "outside Quebec" is a very large area, and the educational resources that are available will depend on where you live. If it is French that you wish to learn, it might be better to live in an area with a larger French speaking population. Here in Calgary, English is the primary language and the opportunities for speaking French on a conversational basis are quite limited.
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Alvinho Triglot Senior Member Brazil Joined 6240 days ago 828 posts - 832 votes Speaks: Portuguese*, English, Spanish
| Message 3 of 6 30 December 2009 at 4:57pm | IP Logged |
tpark wrote:
Many places have some sort of continuing education courses which are not terribly expensive. You may get better answers if you narrow down where you are going to live and work, as "outside Quebec" is a very large area, and the educational resources that are available will depend on where you live. If it is French that you wish to learn, it might be better to live in an area with a larger French speaking population. Here in Calgary, English is the primary language and the opportunities for speaking French on a conversational basis are quite limited. |
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Thanks for the information, TPark
Well, I'll narrow it down......Initially they say I'll probably end up working in Edmonton although don't rule out that Quebec might be another destination.
I wonder if Quebecois authorities have attempted to maintain the French alive amongst locals regardless of separatism issues.
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victor Tetraglot Moderator United States Joined 7324 days ago 1098 posts - 1056 votes 6 sounds Speaks: Cantonese*, English, FrenchC1, Mandarin Studies: Spanish Personal Language Map
| Message 4 of 6 30 December 2009 at 7:34pm | IP Logged |
I agree with tpark, it really depends on where you are in Canada. Although to be frank, anywhere beyond the periphery of Quebec, you're not very likely at all to get a native environment to practice French. Of course, large cities have their Alliance française (partly sponsored by the French government), but that is the same for any major city around the world. There are most likely other schools in most large Canadian cities.
I can probably find out more for you if you know where you will be going. The provinces of Ontario, New Brunswick, and Manitoba have a stronger Francophone presence and greater efforts in preserving Francophone communities, so there may be more French-language schools. Sadly, although the Quebec government has a secretariat devoted to French-language promotion in the rest of Canada, it isn't very active mostly due to political reasons.
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tpark Tetraglot Pro Member Canada Joined 7052 days ago 118 posts - 127 votes Speaks: English*, German, Dutch, French Personal Language Map
| Message 5 of 6 30 December 2009 at 11:28pm | IP Logged |
There is a Francophone population in northern Alberta, so I think there would be many opportunities to learn French there. I can't recommend anything as I haven't lived in Edmonton.
The government of Quebec makes a dedicated effort to preserve the French language. They have implemented rules mandating the use of French in the workplace.
If you are going to Edmonton, try and time things so you are going there during the summer. It can get quite cold in Edmonton during the winter and there are fewer opportunities to enjoy going outside.
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JBI Diglot Groupie Canada Joined 5697 days ago 46 posts - 67 votes Speaks: Modern Hebrew, English* Studies: Italian, Mandarin, French
| Message 6 of 6 31 December 2009 at 1:25am | IP Logged |
Alvinho wrote:
tpark wrote:
Many places have some sort of continuing education courses which are not terribly expensive. You may get better answers if you narrow down where you are going to live and work, as "outside Quebec" is a very large area, and the educational resources that are available will depend on where you live. If it is French that you wish to learn, it might be better to live in an area with a larger French speaking population. Here in Calgary, English is the primary language and the opportunities for speaking French on a conversational basis are quite limited. |
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Thanks for the information, TPark
Well, I'll narrow it down......Initially they say I'll probably end up working in Edmonton although don't rule out that Quebec might be another destination.
I wonder if Quebecois authorities have attempted to maintain the French alive amongst locals regardless of separatism issues. |
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The exact opposite - they try to push it on locals, regardless of politics, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, as English was essentially pushed on them, and is continuously pushed on them - I think if you go to Quebec, you'll have a very easy time finding places to teach you French.
As for the rest of Canada - it varies - if I were to guess, New Brunswick would probably be the easiest place to find French education, as it is a bilingual province (the only one). In any city you can find language schools, and in almost every university, but those may cost cash, which is sometimes better spent elsewhere - a lot of immigrant services and cultural centres offer courses for relatively cheap though - it pays making phone calls before you arrive to find out exactly where, how much, and how much you're getting.
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