I think my Gr 10 french teacher ruined french for me.

I'm from Montreal, and I was bilingual from birth until I was about 8 and moved to Ontario (we had to for my Dad's job)... since I didn't need to practice it in Ontario, and the French programs in Ontario are generally terrible (with exceptions of course), I lost a lot of my French.

Since I was bilingual at such a young age however, I can still read and understand French almost perfectly, and I can speak it moderately well. Writing is another story however...

I love the language, the Quebec version in particular. One of the many, many reasons I adore my hometown of Montreal is because of the way locals speak in both languages and switch fluently from one to the other... it's really cool.

Also, I hate it when people refer to Parisian french as "the real French" and Quebec french as some fake alternative. Quebec French is essentially French from the 1600's... it hasn't changed much since then, when the French first came to North America. Parisian french sounds so much different because the language has evolved on the French mainland in the past 400 years. The Quebec version has evolved somewhat, but is still very close to 400 year old Parisian french.

I took French throughout high school and did an immersion program last summer in Quebec. I'm supposedly fluent too. haha.

I actually prefer the Quebec french dialect over France French. It just comes a little easier to me. But it doesn't matter to me really.

Dialect is a funny thing. Some people just really believe that their dialect is the right way, when truthfully, it's the exact same language with a few minor pronunciation differences and different slang words... The cores are always the same... Kind of stupid really...

Originally Posted by mellye

Dialect is a funny thing. Some people just really believe that their dialect is the right way, when truthfully, it's the exact same language with a few minor pronunciation differences and different slang words... The cores are always the same... Kind of stupid really...

So you're telling me that you don't think a dialect of English like proper British English sounds any better than New Jersey English?

Originally Posted by Ownaginatios

So you're telling me that you don't think a dialect of English like proper British English sounds any better than New Jersey English?

"proper" british english? A dialect is a dialect... there's no "proper" way of speaking... it's more like art than science. You might personally prefer the sound of a London accent, but I might prefer the sound of a south Wales accent, and my girfriend might prefer an Australian accent.

This is all subjective... one dialect is no better than any other.

Originally Posted by tauntobr

"proper" british english? A dialect is a dialect... there's no "proper" way of speaking... it's more like art than science. You might personally prefer the sound of a London accent, but I might prefer the sound of a south Wales accent, and my girfriend might prefer an Australian accent.

This is all subjective... one dialect is no better than any other.

I say "proper" British English because the name of the dialect itself is "Proper British English" or "Queen's English". I'm just picking a random one here that people know.

Originally Posted by reeves

I think Spanish and Italian got the good end of the stick in the sound department for romance languages.

See I don't like the way Italian sounds...everything ends in ia, io, ino, or something like that...haha. Variety is the spice of life.

French's rolling/gutteral R's, if done right, sound amazing. You rarely ever hear it done properly in Canada (since Quebecois french is like...faux-french)...but it's supposed to sound a bit like a cat purring. 9 times out of 10, the people force it and it just sounds wrong...when it's ideally supposed to be very soft and smooth.

What annoys me about Quebec is:

Rest of country: French is mandatory on labels.
Quebec: Any english sign must be surrounded by 3 french signs, each at least twice the size...haha.

Originally Posted by Mowicz

(since Quebecois french is like...faux-french)

:( NO IT'S NOT! SEE MY POST REGARDING THIS

Although I admittedly haven't read the entire thread before I posted that, and I apologize if my opinion is offensive...it is just my opinion. (:

Don't worry...though I'm unlikely to change how I feel, I've simply come to appreciate the way France-french sounds, more than Quebecois-french.

The 'transitions' from French to English that you enjoy, I would even go so far as to say they're a pet peeve of mine. (Haha...I'm constantly throwing in little french phrases here and there like "C'est la vie" and people go "WHUNNNNH???" and that's not as bad as full-blown changing languages)

In other words...IMHO...its history is irrelevant. I'm not a history buff, but accepting what you say as truth (about Parisian evolution), then I think the evolution changed it for the better...Like I'm sure some caveman grunting language predates all known language, but if you ever heard it you'd think it sounded skank right? But historically, it'd be the best language ever.

Sure, everyone's entitled to an opinion (ie preferring Parisian to Quebecois), I have no problem with that.

I just really get annoyed when people disregard Quebecois as a "fake" version of french, when in reality it's nothing of the sort. It also probably doesn't help that I'm from Montreal... I guess people in general don't like it when others disregard or otherwise put down their home culture .

What I hate is how the French language is constantly adding english words that are pronounced in French. I hate it soooooooo much.

Originally Posted by jhan523

What I hate is how the French language is constantly adding english words that are pronounced in French. I hate it soooooooo much.

Example?

Do you mean like 'ot-dog' instead of chien-chaud?

Originally Posted by tauntobr

Example?

Do you mean like 'ot-dog' instead of chien-chaud?

Le Weekend.

Originally Posted by tauntobr

Example?

Do you mean like 'ot-dog' instead of chien-chaud?

Like "pillow" and "Skatin-rin".

I think there's even Un Hamburger, probably pronounced Ambeurgeur haha.

Half the time I'd ask my TA for a translation, it would be an English word pronounced in French.

Don't forget that a lot of words in English are borrowed from French.

About Quebec French being 'faux', well, I'm not sure about that. I've been learning Parisian or France French since I was little. However, I hear there are a lot of little differences. The French in Europe don't care much for Canadian French.