shelley748

Its not Parisian french either- its a sort of local french..

dbd33

There are francophone Canadians who are unintelligible, from the Gaspe for example, but that's like Geordies being unintelligible. In general speaking French as if from France is fine. In fact my children, at school in Canada, had elocution lessons to ensure that they didn't have any sort of regional accent.

Novocastrian

Ahem . But on topic, one of my sons works for the feds in Regina (I know). He speaks moderately decent French and has been encouraged to take fluency exams. His attitude is that the only reason to do that is to get a job in Ottawa. He doesn't want to live in Ottawa. (Ask him, not me).

dbd33

The civil servant daughter in Vancouver lives in French except at work. When I asked a couple of years ago she couldn't think of a single example of speaking French at work. Nonetheless, there could be a "customer" demanding service in French so the service has to be there and that's why she was a better candidate for the job than her rivals. If the OP can demonstrate competence that's a sensible thing to do.

MillieF

I ‘am seen’ as being fully bilingual here...not my idea....and they need me, so I am not needing to take a test, (I’m only a contract worker in any case) In France, I thought I was upper intermediate, but sometimes I am stumped here. I have clients from all along the Atlantic coast and they can understand me, but I can’t always understand them. When I am speaking with a ‘professional’ it’s fine, but an upset member of the public can be challenging. Interestingly enough my born in NB Francophone co-workers have exactly the same fears. Those from Shediac don’t want to speak to our clients from Quebec, who don’t want to converse with our clients from Miramichi and nobody will put themselves in writing! If snow stops play...it’s me writing the notices to tell the public...odd but true.

I chat with co-workers in French all the time, but it’s a funny ‘clubby’ feeling...not always positive. Then there are people who announce things on phone messages, but they have passed whatever they need to do, but seem completely unintelligible and not comfortable with the language. French is a really big problem, an expensive, and culturally sensitive problem but one that isn’t going to go away.

dbd33

I think that might be a small town thing. If you're in a city, Toronto or NYC, where the recycling flyer comes in 23 languages, one of them being French is neither here nor there. Someone will be offended by the French being slightly wrong,, just the same as someone will be offended by the use of Afghan Farsi when Iranian Farsi would be more fitting. You can't please everyone so you just do what you can. If there are only two languages in use then the problem is magnified when it should be reduced.

carolg2712

So, French speaking. My French is UK High School so by it's nature is Parisian French because that's what I was taught (by a German teacher, but I digress). Would I be able to access adult education centers where I could try to learn the differences between the Parisian French and the Quebec French, or is it something that would depend on which province I ended up going to?

I know I need to refresh, but if there is anything available online, I might also be able to focus on the correct French and try to understand the differences, which may or may not help my case, but figured probably worth a try.

Thanks.

Siouxie

Lots of (mostly free) online courses available
https://www.google.ca/search?q=frenc...cr%3DcountryCA