Hey everyone, I studied French in school so I know the basics and a bit more from my time as an exchange student in Paris. I’ll be attending university in Quebec and wish to know how difficult/unique is Québécois?
Also if anyone could recommend resources to study Québécois. Thanks!
Here we go
Lots. I am a newbie in French. Je peux me débrouiller de une façon décent en France (plus ou moins).
Mais en Québec l'accent est LOURDE.
De l'autre côté, si te fais l'effort tout le monde est gentil. Ça aide.
Written is 99% the exact same. Only some words are different and they mostly are translations of English words used as-is in France.
As for spoken Quebec French, well uh, it's quite different but it's still French. Same syntax, same grammar rules it's just the vocabulary can be quite different depending with who you talk. A mechanic and your professor at university won't have the same lexicon that's for sure.
Written and formal should be around the same, you should not have problems in the uni classes.
It is the informal, street that will take you by surprise.
My personal advice: exposure.
Movies, podcasts, tiktok, TV shows, etc.
I was recommended this post
https://www.reddit.com/r/causerie/s/ZpCiTXGXKO
Also formal Québec french don't use English words because we make efforts to protect our language.
The Québécois accent is very nasally. The nasal vowels in Parisian French are already difficult for anglophones. The Québécois accent sounds funny to French people the same way Canadian accents are funny to Americans. Canadians are great despite their silly accents though.
Many Canadian curse words are religious things like tabernacle.
In the formal register, they are almost identical, minus some vocabulary choices. On one hand, you will find words that Europeans might find antiquated but are still commonly used in Québec (eg "barrer" vs "verrouiller", "soulier" vs "chaussure"), on the other you have many French words created in Québec for modern concepts for which France simply borrowed the English words (eg "courriel" vs "e-mail", "fin de semaine" vs "week-end"). So if you can read French from Paris, you can read French in Québec, with a few dictionary lookups now and then.
In the informal register, it is quite different. The way words are compressed/abbreviated, expressions, slang, swears, they are completely different. There is also a general difference in pronunciation. Not completely alien, but if you aren't used to it, it can be difficult to lock in at first.
Check out this video on an anglophone's view on Québec French after learning some France French: Watch on YouTube
If you are in Canada (or have a VPN that can make it look like you are), there's also the Mauril site/app that teaches Québec French using archival footage from Radio-Canada.
Si tu veux étudier Québécois, faut que tu lises la littérature québécoise. Michel Tremblay est bon pour la langue orale.
Written and formal are basically the same everywhere. Informal and especially slang are an entire different beast. The accents/nasal sounds might be confusing too but your experience will vastly vary depending on your location in Quebec. In Montreal and nearby it should be manageable. Anywhere else in Quebec is a 50/50, could be the same, could be quite challenging.
Next time, you could left out those inappropriate comments.
I will, merci beaucoup!