British Expats - How does one learn Canadian French?

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How does one learn Canadian French?

While preparing to move to Montreal within a few months this question has been looming over my head.

I have a fairly decent understanding of French, which I have studied in school, and Iwould consider myself intermediate. Of course my reading and listening skills are a lot better than writing and speaking.

However, I am being warned over and over that Canadian French is a very different type of animal. People go as far as to say that it is a language of its own.

So my question is: Are there any study materials that will teach French as they speak it in Quebec? I am looking for Books, CDs, VHS tapes, etc.

Any pointers will be mighty helpful

just a thought, is it worth getting a french language course from Canada?

I think you will need to actually go there or immerse yourself with quebecios francophones. All the French I learnt in highschool in England and other people I know who learnt Parisian French have a hard time with Quebecios for many reasons. Of course there is the dialect issue which is the same for any language that has grown in a different country like Spanish in latin America etc, but then there is also the issue of accent which makes the french words sound completely different and hard to understand and also because there is a much greater prevelance of English in Quebec (at least in Montreal) you get much more blending and adoption of English slang words or 'frenchified' english words that are adapted to sound french and then inserted into the modern vocabulary.

Most of the actual French language tools I have seen in Canada seem to teach proper Parisian French and then the Quebecois is just absorbed through immersian if you live in Quebec or igorned if you don't. I think less than 16% of Canadians outside Quebec are fluent in French.

My guess if you won't have too much trouble reading or writing French in Montreal if you have a reasonable understanding of any French as the words are still mostly written and spelled the same, it's just speaking and listening that become hard.

Drew

Thanks a lot. This should help. I had a feeling that there is no such as formal training in Quebecois French. Well, considering that I will be moving to Quebec in a few months, I should start picking it up with time.

Cheers,

Quote:

Originally posted by wizzard
I think you will need to actually go there or immerse yourself with quebecios francophones. All the French I learnt in highschool in England and other people I know who learnt Parisian French have a hard time with Quebecios for many reasons. Of course there is the dialect issue which is the same for any language that has grown in a different country like Spanish in latin America etc, but then there is also the issue of accent which makes the french words sound completely different and hard to understand and also because there is a much greater prevelance of English in Quebec (at least in Montreal) you get much more blending and adoption of English slang words or 'frenchified' english words that are adapted to sound french and then inserted into the modern vocabulary.

Most of the actual French language tools I have seen in Canada seem to teach proper Parisian French and then the Quebecois is just absorbed through immersian if you live in Quebec or igorned if you don't. I think less than 16% of Canadians outside Quebec are fluent in French.

My guess if you won't have too much trouble reading or writing French in Montreal if you have a reasonable understanding of any French as the words are still mostly written and spelled the same, it's just speaking and listening that become hard.

Drew

Quote:

Originally posted by prodigyking
Thanks a lot. This should help. I had a feeling that there is no such as formal training in Quebecois French. Well, considering that I will be moving to Quebec in a few months, I should start picking it up with time.

Cheers,

There is language instruction for newcomers provided, well funded by anyway, the goverment of canada.

http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/newcome...e/wel-11e.html

In French this program is known as CLIC, for Cours de langue pour les immigrants au Canada.

Of course this is only any good to you after you land, although you may be able to get hold of the course texts beforehand (My wife taught the english LINC courses, and they used widely available standard texts.)

Bonne Chance!

Iain

Hi

I am english but fluent in french and we moved to Montreal almost 1 year ago.

I find that my spoken french is understood no problem and I can understand quebecois french when spoken directly to me but when there are 2 or more quebecois speaking french together it takes a lot more concentration! Their accent is 'unique' and they have lots of words and expressions that you wouldn't hear in France.

It definitely gets easier the more practice you get, watching the local tv channels in french helps.

So no real advise for what to do before you get here but good luck when you do! Enjoy Montreal, I love it!

Penny

Quote:

Originally posted by tallperson

It definitely gets easier the more practice you get, watching the local tv channels in french helps.

Penny

Just a suggestion -- the radio-canada website has an archive of the last week (or so) news broadcasts on their website. I sometimes go there to practice listening to French.

However, I imagine that the language the news presenter is speaking is rather formal as compared to the average person on the street. But its a thought.

Bon chance!

Bryan