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Any Brits in the Montreal area?

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Any Brits in the Montreal area?

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Old Sep 7th 2007 | 5:08 am
  #31  
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Default Re: Any Brits in the Montreal area?

Originally Posted by Giggles2080



My boyfriend tells me that when I speak French I'm not pronouncing it right, he says my accent messes it up! He just likes to bug me though! I think I'm having a bit of a hard time with learning it because Quebecers have a "twang" to their voice...and I just find it hard to understand what is being said some times! The whole sentence just blends into one big word - maybe it's just me!
They do tend to rant and abreviate like mad in Quebec spoken French, I can find it really hard to follow if they're on a rant and I'm half related to them! *lol* To me, Quebecoise sounds more nasally then European French... for example, Quebecers 'Oui' sounds more like 'wey'

I could barely understand what they call in Quebec 'Parisien' French (eg; European French) when I first moved over here to the UK & dealt with some French companies on the phone... mind you, they tend to have less English interspersed into 'European French' as alot of Quebecers will just Francasize (I know thats my own specialy created word!) English words & terms....

Example of this, I'm pretty sure European French would call hot dogs 'Saucise' something or other (sausage) but in Quebec when ordering a hot dog they say 'Un 'ot dawg sil vous plait' or thats what it sounds like to my ears anyway. I am a fantastic mimic when it comes to sounding Quebec French but sadly, my written French is absolutetly terrible... can't grasp the accents and verbs.

What's worse... my British partner knows French & German and spells/writes French better then I do! But he still sounds bloody hillarious when he speaks French with his accent, like a Frenchman character off Monty Python Holy Grail sketch Fetchez la vache!!

I think the majority of people are polite enough to make an effort in a conversation... sit on a city bus in Montreal and listen to the teenagers chatting away in 'Frenglish' it's perfectly acceptable to switch back and forth between English & French in a conversation if you can't think of the right word quick enough... heck I do it all the time

Last edited by Daedra; Sep 7th 2007 at 5:11 am.
 
Old Sep 7th 2007 | 6:48 am
  #32  
 
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Default Re: Any Brits in the Montreal area?

Originally Posted by Daedra
They do tend to rant and abreviate like mad in Quebec spoken French, I can find it really hard to follow if they're on a rant and I'm half related to them! *lol* To me, Quebecoise sounds more nasally then European French... for example, Quebecers 'Oui' sounds more like 'wey'

I could barely understand what they call in Quebec 'Parisien' French (eg; European French) when I first moved over here to the UK & dealt with some French companies on the phone... mind you, they tend to have less English interspersed into 'European French' as alot of Quebecers will just Francasize (I know thats my own specialy created word!) English words & terms....

Example of this, I'm pretty sure European French would call hot dogs 'Saucise' something or other (sausage) but in Quebec when ordering a hot dog they say 'Un 'ot dawg sil vous plait' or thats what it sounds like to my ears anyway. I am a fantastic mimic when it comes to sounding Quebec French but sadly, my written French is absolutetly terrible... can't grasp the accents and verbs.

What's worse... my British partner knows French & German and spells/writes French better then I do! But he still sounds bloody hillarious when he speaks French with his accent, like a Frenchman character off Monty Python Holy Grail sketch Fetchez la vache!!

I think the majority of people are polite enough to make an effort in a conversation... sit on a city bus in Montreal and listen to the teenagers chatting away in 'Frenglish' it's perfectly acceptable to switch back and forth between English & French in a conversation if you can't think of the right word quick enough... heck I do it all the time

I have been known to tell the Boy to stop stuffing his face with piggery and hit the lit

The Ottawa Valley accent is vile.
A while back I was behind a woman at the Couche Tard. She lobbed a 20 on the counter, uttered "vaynedahgaaaaawze" and walked out. It took me a while to figure out what she was paying for.
 
Old Sep 7th 2007 | 7:23 am
  #33  
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Default Re: Any Brits in the Montreal area?

I had to read that out loud to get what you qouted Souv LOL!! Yeah well my cousins living in the boonies (sorry, small town QC to be PC) still have to slow down for me to understand them as it sounds like one long drawn out word every sentance. Atleast the Franglophones in Montreal like my family have small pauses between words or sentances
 
Old Sep 7th 2007 | 10:59 am
  #34  
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Default Re: Any Brits in the Montreal area?

Originally Posted by Daedra
I had to read that out loud to get what you qouted Souv LOL!! Yeah well my cousins living in the boonies (sorry, small town QC to be PC) still have to slow down for me to understand them as it sounds like one long drawn out word every sentance. Atleast the Franglophones in Montreal like my family have small pauses between words or sentances
me too!!!! Then I got my BF to say it just to make sure I was right! lol
 
Old Sep 7th 2007 | 11:08 am
  #35  
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Default Re: Any Brits in the Montreal area?

Originally Posted by Daedra
They do tend to rant and abreviate like mad in Quebec spoken French, I can find it really hard to follow if they're on a rant and I'm half related to them! *lol* To me, Quebecoise sounds more nasally then European French... for example, Quebecers 'Oui' sounds more like 'wey'

I could barely understand what they call in Quebec 'Parisien' French (eg; European French) when I first moved over here to the UK & dealt with some French companies on the phone... mind you, they tend to have less English interspersed into 'European French' as alot of Quebecers will just Francasize (I know thats my own specialy created word!) English words & terms....

Example of this, I'm pretty sure European French would call hot dogs 'Saucise' something or other (sausage) but in Quebec when ordering a hot dog they say 'Un 'ot dawg sil vous plait' or thats what it sounds like to my ears anyway. I am a fantastic mimic when it comes to sounding Quebec French but sadly, my written French is absolutetly terrible... can't grasp the accents and verbs.

What's worse... my British partner knows French & German and spells/writes French better then I do! But he still sounds bloody hillarious when he speaks French with his accent, like a Frenchman character off Monty Python Holy Grail sketch Fetchez la vache!!

I think the majority of people are polite enough to make an effort in a conversation... sit on a city bus in Montreal and listen to the teenagers chatting away in 'Frenglish' it's perfectly acceptable to switch back and forth between English & French in a conversation if you can't think of the right word quick enough... heck I do it all the time


Well, thank god it's not just me having a hard time with separating the words sometimes!! lol I understand what you mean about the 'oui' and 'wey'. I recently went home to visit my family and on my flight to the UK I was sitting next to a couple who had just been visiting their son in Quebec City. They were telling me that they met their son's in-laws for the first time and could not understand them at all!! They said that they had taken a few basic french lessons so they could communicate a little with the in-laws...the man said it took them days to realise that when they were having conversations with people; when they said "wey" they were really saying "OUI"...haha It really is different from European French...

In time I will learn!!!
 

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