Canadian French vs. French: Key Phrases and Variations To Know
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Oh, Canada! A sprawling, warm-hearted nation that you just would possibly know for its well-known friendliness, spectacular mountains, cosmopolitan cities, maple syrup, and love of hockey. There’s additionally a wealthy number of language and tradition in Canada, together with a number of Francophone areas—the largest of which is Québec.
As a learner of French, a visit to French-speaking Canada may be on the prime of your listing, and we expect that’s une bonne idée (a good suggestion)! However does Québec converse French or Canadian French? Although the French spoken in Canada is exclusive, your Customary French will certainly come in useful. It doesn’t matter what dialect or area you’re exploring, Rosetta Stone’s Dynamic Immersion can deliver linguistic selection proper to your fingertips, mirroring the best way you first acquired language as a toddler.
How Canadian French originated
Canada historical past with France started in 1534 when explorer Jacques Cartier arrived in Newfoundland. French settlers— a lot of them fur merchants—colonized a lot of the northern lands that are actually Canada. This included what’s now often known as Québec, first based in 1608 by Samuel de Champlain.
The British Empire additionally inspired settlers to maneuver to the Americas to make sure a foothold within the new, plentiful land. Whereas a lot of them settled farther south (so far as Florida), residents of each nations co-existed in lots of areas close to the Nice Lakes and in the present day’s New England by the French and Indian Battle and Revolutionary Battle. Even when French colonial rule got here to an finish, the French language and tradition endured in some areas, which influenced the official founding of Canada in 1867.
In 1969, the Official Languages Act acknowledged each English and French as co-official languages and granted them equal standing by legislation. At this time, the federal authorities of Canada operates in each languages, and provincial governments and territories are required to supply bilingual instruction to their college students.
What French dialects are spoken in Canada?
The proximity to English audio system, paired with the sheer geographical vastness of Canada, created three teams of French audio system. Considerably remoted from one another, the dialects advanced individually, however they every share options that differ from European French. Québecois is the dominant French dialect of the province of Québec and would be the focus of this put up.
There are additionally particular dialects related to every of the provinces of Canada, as Francophone communities maintained their language and tradition over centuries. The opposite French Canadian dialects embody Acadian, Franco-Ontarian, and Terre-Neuve (Newfoundland) French. All through Canada, and even south of the Canadian border, are different Francophone communities with associated dialects.
How many individuals converse French in Canada?
Throughout the continent, over 7 million Canadians converse French as their first language, although about 10 million can converse conversational French. This equates to about 22 p.c of the Canadian inhabitants. In almost each province you can find pockets of Francophone communities, every with their very own language distinctives.
In the event you’re touring to Canada as a pupil or vacationer, you’ll see signage and paperwork in each English and French. That is the case all through the nation, however if you happen to actually wish to deal with studying to talk French, go for a neighborhood that’s majority Francophone like Québec.
Québec
The overwhelming majority of Canadian French audio system stay in Québec—a lot in order that French is the only real official language on this province. In Québec, over 84 p.c of individuals converse Québecois (the French dialect spoken in Québec) as their first or second language. As of the 2021 Canadian census, 7,074,328 folks converse French in Québec.
Acadia
Alongside the Atlantic, you’ll discover the area referred to as Acadia which incorporates New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island. Every of those areas have sturdy French-speaking traditions which can be distinctive to the world, however additionally they have bilingual affect from English. Roughly 327,000 French audio system stay on this space.
Ontario
Many newcomers of all language backgrounds select to settle in Toronto. Over 60,000 folks converse French on this dynamic and multicultural metropolis, however 526,000 folks converse French in all of Ontario as of the 2021 census.
Western Canada
As you journey additional west, you usually tend to discover solely smaller pockets of individuals sustaining their long-standing francophone heritage, comparable to St. Boniface (a part of Winnipeg) in Manitoba, Gravelbourg in Saskatchewan, and St. Paul in Alberta.
- Alberta: 72,203
- British Columbia: 65,583
- Manitoba: 38,378
- Saskatchewan: 12,243
- Yukon: 1,895
Tips on how to establish the French Canadian accent
Everybody has an accent that displays the pronunciation and cadences of their native language from childhood. Most English audio system know the distinction amongst American, British, and Australian dialects. And inside every of them, there are regional dialects that may be realized from Southern American English to Cockney English. You’ll additionally discover the identical variations in accents between Canadian French and Customary French.
For somebody who grows up in Québec, completely different accents may be apparent between cities, however a number of issues distinguish most Québecois from Customary French. That features a few variations in how France and Canada use French accent marks or diacritics.
- Many vowels are pronounced in another way, with extra diphthongs utilized in Québecois.
- The “o” in phrases like selected (factor) in Québecois will sound as if you’re announcing each “o” and “oo.”
- The “oi” sound in moi (me) sounds extra like “oé.”
- The ultimate “ain” sound in phrases like most important (hand) feels like “a-in” with a really nasal sound.
These vowel sounds replicate an older type of French, as pronounced by the unique colonizers who would have turn out to be disconnected from how French in France advanced.
- Speech in Canada is taken into account to have extra of a “sing-song” high quality compared with France.
- Vowels and phrase endings with silent consonants have extra of a nasal sound, which may even result in confusion between phrases, comparable to dad and mom (dad and mom) which may very well be confused with parrains (godparents).
- A cautious listener will hear an “s” or “z” sound in some phrases with “t” or “d” consonants, comparable to mardi (Tuesday) which sounds extra like “mardzi” or “extraordinaire” (wonderful) which feels like “extraordzinaire.”
It may be actually enjoyable to match and distinction how new associates and acquaintances pronounce phrases. Although adapting to the Canadian French accent is tougher for a European French speaker than maybe a Swiss French accent, having endurance, a humorousness, and curiosity is the important thing to success.
What are the variations between Canadian French and Customary French?
In the event you ask a local French speaker from France, they’ll say they don’t acknowledge the French spoken in Canada, due to centuries of separation and influences. Whereas this can be a little bit tongue in cheek, the truth is that you would be able to usually talk and perceive one another irrespective of which French dialect you employ. The hot button is context in dialog. Listed below are just a few variations between Canadian French and Customary French in France.
Much less formality
Canadian French audio system use the extra casual French pronoun tu (you) as an alternative of vous (you) rather more usually than in France. This could make it really feel simpler and extra informal to study. The usage of tu with strangers is taken into account rude in France however not a lot in Canada. It’s nonetheless not a foul thought to make use of vous, simply in case, although you might be given permission immediately to tutoyer (to make use of the tu type).
You’ll additionally discover extra use of on (casual “we”) as an alternative of nous (customary, formal “we”). On this case, French verbs are conjugated just like the il/elle type, so it’s a bit easier to type some sentences, too.
Affect of English and First Nation languages
There are lots of First Nation communities all through Canada, resulting in loan-words which can be particular to different indigenous languages. A few of these aboriginal tribes are the Métis and Inuit nations, and about 1.8 million persons are indigenous to Canada. When French colonizers encountered natives of the Americas, they adopted many phrases for gadgets and animals that they had no phrases for. This loan-word observe is seen in lots of Canadian French phrases even in the present day.
| French Phrase (Borrowed) | English That means |
| un achigan | a black bass |
| une babiche | a snowshoe |
| un carcajou | a wolverine |
| un maringouin | a mosquito |
| un mocassin | a moccasin |
English has a powerful presence and affect in Canada, so anglicismes (phrases and phrases influenced by the English language) are fairly frequent. They don’t essentially correspond with the anglicismes utilized in France, nonetheless!
| Canada | France | English That means |
| ARRÊT | STOP | STOP (on a cease signal) |
| C’est très le enjoyable. | C’est très amusant. | It’s actually enjoyable. |
| cette fin de semaine | ce weekend | this weekend |
| J’ai parqué mon char | J’ai stationné ma voiture | I parked my automotive |
| Je vais faire du magasinage | Je vais faire du purchasing | I’m going to go purchasing |
| le courriel | le mail | the mail |
| le chien chaud | Le hotdog | the sizzling canine |
| un joke | une blague | a joke |
Names of meals
In the event you’ve studied the distinction between the names of meals in France versus Switzerland or Belgium, then this can be a well-known distinction from Canada. The phrases for “dinner,” “supper,” and even “tea” could cause confusion in English as effectively, so it’s helpful to know the frequent phrases within the area you’re visiting.
| Canada | France | English That means |
| Le déjeuner | Le petit-déjeuner | the primary meal within the morning, breakfast |
| Le dîner | Le déjeuner | mid-day meal lunch, luncheon, dinner (relying on English-speaking area) |
| Le souper | Le dîner | night meal dinner, supper (relying on English-speaking area) |
Integrating older and newer phrases
Similar to in European French-speaking nations Switzerland and Belgium, there are traces of older French dialects which can be nonetheless in use in the present day, however have disappeared or are actually thought of antiquated in France. For instance, barrer means “to lock” in Québec, however has been changed with fermer à clé or verrouiller in France.
However, phrases which were invented particularly for issues that exist solely in Canada, comparable to some phrases in authorities, know-how, or phrases for newer merchandise or concepts, can be completely different from France as effectively.
- un dépanneur = a small grocery retailer/nook retailer
Utilizing tu in questions
In casual dialog in Québecois, questions can embody the phrase tu as a marker of a query, instead of est-ce que. That is absent in formal French and in Europe.
- Elle a-tu dit oui? = Did she say sure?
- Il veut-tu aller au marché? = Does he wish to go to the market?
As you’ll be able to see, utilizing tu to point a query may be confused with the topic pronoun tu (you), however it serves the aim of forming questions extra rapidly.
Phrases or phrases to make use of in French-speaking Canada
Although there are a lot of variations in Québecois French, your French can be useful in Canada, particularly with those that are used to speaking with learners. Regardless of the proximity of the US to Canada, college students are likely to study Customary French in colleges over Canadian French, until they’re very close to the border the place it’s extra necessary to study.
Greetings and well mannered dialog
| Québecois French | Customary/European French | English That means |
| Bienvenue! | De rien ! Je vous en prie | You’re welcome |
| Bonne journée! | Au revoir ! | Goodbye/good day |
| C’est amusant! | C’est le enjoyable ! | It’s enjoyable! |
| Il fait frette! | Il fait froid ! | It’s chilly! |
Completely different phrases
We are able to’t listing each vocabulary distinction between French and Canadian French, however listed below are just a few you’ll encounter:
| Canadian French | Customary/European French | English That means |
| des bas | des chaussette | socks |
| des souliers | des chaussures | sneakers |
| la boucane | la fumée | smoke |
| la facteur | une addition | a invoice/test (at a restaurant) |
| le soccer | le soccer, le foot | soccer, European soccer |
| les vidanges | les poubelles | rubbish, trash, garbage |
| un bicyclette (un bicyc) | un vélo | a motorbike |
| un breuvage | une boisson | a drink |
| un char | une voiture | a automotive |
| un chum | un copain | a boyfriend |
| un costume de bain | un maillot de bain | a washing go well with/swimsuit |
| une balayeuse | un aspirateur | a vacuum-cleaner |
| une blonde | une copine | a girlfriend |
| une camisole | un débardeur | a sleeveless t-shirt |
| une cellulaire | un moveable | a mobile phone |
| une débarbouillette | Une petite napkin/ Un gant de toilette | a washcloth/face material |
| une efface | une gomme | an eraser (from a pencil) |
| une laveuse | une machine à laver | a washer |
| une liqueur | une boisson gazeuse | a carbonated beverage |
| une pinotte | une cacahuète | a peanut |
| une sacoche | un sac à most important | a purse |
| une tuque | un bonnet | a beanie/wool hat |
Discover French in each area with Rosetta Stone
Whether or not you’re planning a visit, or simply connecting with Canadian tradition on-line, studying in regards to the French in Canada will enrich your language studying expertise. Only a little bit of consciousness of regional language variations helps us keep curious and ask inquiries to keep away from an excessive amount of confusion.
Navigate these frequent journey conditions and extra with ease. Rosetta Stone’s App has a Phrasebook that teaches you helpful phrases associated to eating out, getting round, well being and security, and extra. Hear a local speaker pronounce every expression and observe saying them your self, so that you’ll be ready for any real-world encounter irrespective of which French-speaking nation you go to.
