Learn to talk like ME!

I stumbled across this blog while doing some Canadian research for this site:

http://www.learncanadianfrench.com/

It’s actually very educational; if you’d like to learn a bit more about my culture, I highly recommend that you check it out! The funniest thing for me was that I actually learned a LOT too! I actually never realized that there were that many different words in Canadian French than in European French! I speak VERY Canadian French, and I didn’t even realize it! No wonder my Parisian friends are always confused! A lot of the differences are very subtle; a lot is the pronunciation. I always explain to people that it’s like American English verses British English. In my experience, Europeans LOVE to hear Canadian French though- I’m always told that it’s so “cute!” There’s a huge fascination with my accent- but it’s always comforting to talk to my family in French and hear them sound like me. I’m not always repeating myself! LOL

Here’s a great example: in France, they call a soft drink “un soda” or sometimes “un coca” for a coca-cola. In CANADA, we call a coca-cola, “un Coke” (pronounced just like how you say it in English.) For other soft drinks, Canadians will say “un POP.” And in Montreal specifically, it’s called LIQUEUR! That’s right, just like the English word, “liquor!” So, at a restaurant, the waitress will ask if you want (directly translated) “liquor for the kids to drink!”

Oh, and it’s also kind of funny that in Canada, the stop signs say “ARRET” ( which is French for “stop”), but in France, the stop signs say, “STOP.” What the….?