Originally Posted by feonateresa

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

That reminds me of that move "The Pink Panther" than came out a few years ago with Steve Martin. I don't think I've ever anti-lol'd so hard in my life.

Originally Posted by feonateresa

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

I believe it's the opposite. At one point France conquered England and they were forced or the major language had to be French. When all of this was over a lot of French words remained in the vocabulary and as you can see now, there are French words in the English language.

But don't quote me on that... I don't remember it quite clearly.

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?

Whether it sounds different or not, English is English and I'm pretty sure I can communicate properly with people with have different dialects, so why should it matter?

Originally Posted by feonateresa

The French in Europe don't care much for Canadian French.

There's a few reasons why, one example being that the Office québécois de la langue française (the office in Quebec which regulates the standardization of the language) often will add new "official" words to the Quebecois version of french which the Académie française (the France version of this office) disagrees with.

It's a reality of Quebecois that new words sometimes need to be added to keep up with Canadian culture, and these words, phrases and terms are called "canadianisms".

The "english words added to french" that we were speaking of just earlier are called "anglicisms" and both the Office québécois de la langue française and the Académie française tries to fight those.

Originally Posted by tauntobr

There's a few reasons why, one example being that the Office québécois de la langue française (the office in Quebec which regulates the standardization of the language) often will add new "official" words to the Quebecois version of french which the Académie française (the France version of this office) disagrees with.

It's a reality of Quebecois that new words sometimes need to be added to keep up with Canadian culture, and these words, phrases and terms are called "canadianisms".

The "english words added to french" that we were speaking of just earlier are called "anglicisms" and both the Office québécois de la langue française and the Académie française tries to fight those.

Those are the initial signs that a language is going the way of Pennsylvania German. :p

Originally Posted by Ownaginatios

Those are the initial signs that a language is going the way of Pennsylvania German. :p

It definitely would be a challenge for any of the organizations dedicating to preserving the French language. Most french people (be they from Canada, France, or anywhere else) are fiercely defensive of their language. There's not much you can do however, since English is essentially the lingua franca around the world.

Either way, I doubt French will go extinct any time soon. There's just over half a billion French speakers around the world.

Originally Posted by mellye

Whether it sounds different or not, English is English and I'm pretty sure I can communicate properly with people with have different dialects, so why should it matter?

Haha, I honestly sometimes have trouble understanding some dialects of English in England. Sounds crazy right? I was watching this reality show with English kids one time, couldn't understand a word they were saying - eventually they had to add subtitles.

Regardless of conquering and whatnot, there are French words in English. The one that comes to mind always is 'Drole', which sounds terrible in English but yeah haha.

In Linguistics last year, they said about 4-5% of English's vocab is from French.

Originally Posted by tauntobr

It definitely would be a challenge for any of the organizations dedicating to preserving the French language. Most french people (be they from Canada, France, or anywhere else) are fiercely defensive of their language. There's not much you can do however, since English is essentially the lingua franca around the world.

I wonder what the lingua franca will be a millenium from now (you know, assuming we don't blow ourselves up before then :p).

Originally Posted by feonateresa

Haha, I honestly sometimes have trouble understanding some dialects of English in England. Sounds crazy right? I was watching this reality show with English kids one time, couldn't understand a word they were saying - eventually they had to add subtitles.

Regardless of conquering and whatnot, there are French words in English. The one that comes to mind always is 'Drole', which sounds terrible in English but yeah haha.

In Linguistics last year, they said about 4-5% of English's vocab is from French.

Yeah, queue is also one. Ability comes from Habilite, angle is also a french word, so is parent. There are thousands of them.

Originally Posted by feonateresa

In Linguistics last year, they said about 4-5% of English's vocab is from French.

Apparently 60% of it is German. You can barely tell in a lot of words though due to pronunciation shifts and differences in Spelling :/.

Apparently, according to one of my professors from last year, German people don't have much problem reading Old English texts.

Oh yeah! I didn't know this, but you know how they say, May Day May Day? It's actually M'aide as in 'help me' in French. I was all amazed when my teacher in highschool told me haha. I'm a nerd.

And yeah, a LOT of English is from German - because they're both Germanic languages. A lot of the sound changes that have occured overtime are exactly the same in English and German. I'd be hard pressed to read Old English, but yeah, if you understand German, you'd probably understand it. We had to decipher some Old English and Middle English last year ... that was fun. >.<

Originally Posted by feonateresa

Oh yeah! I didn't know this, but you know how they say, May Day May Day? It's actually M'aide as in 'help me' in French. I was all amazed when my teacher in highschool told me haha. I'm a nerd.

My eyes lit up when I read that haha.

I was in French Immersion from kindergarden to Grade 12, and liked it enough that I decided to minor in it! I also love reading labels (you learn new words!) and watching French TV shows. But I think the biggest benefit of a second language is being able to communicate with more people. This year I went to the Czech Republic and Switzerland, and felt so much more comfortable in Switzerland (the French part at least). I would order food and buy things in French and felt accomplished when they understood me and answered back.

I wish I had a better accent though. :( Mine isn't bad, but I'm definitely a little scared when I need to talk to a native speaker.

Yay French!!! <3

I’m also French Canadian. I was born in Montreal, and I’m fluent in French. I LOVE the language.

Originally Posted by Joseph

French is awesome! I’m not fluent, but I can speak a fair bit. I took it all throughout high school and really enjoyed it. I was going take French 1Z06 but I couldn’t fit it into my timetable.

I’m actually half French Canadian. My father’s side is French Canadian. We make occasional trips to Quebec, and it’s actually fun testing out your French skills. I actually managed to have a pretty decent conversation in French with a store owner. It lasted about 6 minutes until I had no idea what to say! :p

But yeah, I recommend going to Quebec, and testing out your French skills! One thing I'd recommend though is not wearing anything that depicts the Toronto Maple Leafs, especially in Montreal. You'll get cussed in French, and it's not pretty. Trust me lol
-Joseph

Joseph, you’re French Canadian, but you’re one of the biggest Toronto Maple Leafs fan on MI. How did that happen? Traitor!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!

Matthew

Originally Posted by Matthew K

Yay French!!! <3

I’m also French Canadian. I was born in Montreal, and I’m fluent in French. I LOVE the language.



Joseph, you’re French Canadian, but you’re one of the biggest Toronto Maple Leafs fan on MI. How did that happen? Traitor!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!

Matthew

lol you have no idea how many people ask/tell me that :p. I said I was half French Canadian! I was also born in Toronto, and lived in Toronto my entire life. I grew up with the Toronto Maple Leafs .

I don’t think Sarah would appreciate us talking about hockey on her thread. We tend to get carried away when it comes to hockey, so lets talk about it in the ‘Leafs vs Habs’ thread .
-Joseph