Re: Moving to Ottawa
 

Our daughter learnt Parisian French at her school in BC, began with conversational lessons in Grade 1, moved onto reading and grammar in Grade 3.

She had difficulty being understood and understanding in Old Montreal at age 12 .... and that was just asking simple questions!

Re: Moving to Ottawa
 

Our kids went through french immersion here in Ottawa and have been to Paris and other parts of France and have been complimented on their french and people in France couldn't detect any french canadian or even worse franco Ontarian linguistics. The only time our kids had a hard time was with an elderly lady in Nice

Side note: SIL is visiting us now from Hamilton area. 100% cradle, hates footie, you get the picture. England/Colombia game ends and Jordan Pickford and Jordan Henderson (the two Jordan's) are being interviewed after the game. Two geordies on the team and she couldn't understand a word of what they were saying. It's all what you're used to.

Re: Moving to Ottawa
 

Try going to Saguenay! Inpenetrable accent and far too many fingers for the headcount.

Souvette seems convinced that her brother's three kids are Quebecois. They are not. They were all born and raised in New Brunswick.

Re: Moving to Ottawa
 

My French is far from fluent. But when I do speak it, it's with (I've been told) a Lyonnais accent - thanks to my high school teacher who hailed from somewhere near Grenoble. I can pick up a fair amount of Montreal or Quebec french, but struggle with some of my brother-in-law's wife's family who come from somewhere out on the Gaspe. Acadian and New Brunswick accents defeat me more often than not...

Teachers at my kids' French Immersion school seem to have a mix of Franco-Ontarian and Quebecois accents.

Re: Moving to Ottawa
 

Twenty-five rabbits was one of the phrases they had to repeat quickly, like a tongue twister, to see if they'd picked up any hint of localism; soink, lapoing, it's like innit, innit?

Re: Moving to Ottawa
 

How now, brown cow?

Every language has its regional accent shibboleths, I suspect.

Another French one I remember from school was "a good white wine." Easily distinguished vowel sounds were required for un, bon, vin, and blanc - and not a diphthong among them, please.

Re: Moving to Ottawa
 

Indeed :)

Now is the time for all good men to come to the aid of the party
I sell sea shells on the sea shore
Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers, a peck of picked peppers Peter Piper picked, if Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers, where are the peppers that Peter Piper picked
The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog.
The rain in Spain falls mainly on the plains

:p

Re: Moving to Ottawa
 

I'm not a pheasant plucker, I'm the pheasant plucker's son, I'm only plucking pheasants 'til the pheasant plucker comes.

Re: Moving to Ottawa
 

Oh well, if that's the game, may I please present:

Mrs Puggy Wuggy has a square cut punt. Not a punt cut square, just a square cut punt. It's round in the stern and blunt in the front. Mrs Puggy Wuggy has a square cut punt.