4 Culture Shocks in Canada I A Frenchies Experience in Montreal!

It's been a couple months in Montreal now and we have had some French visitors! My French in-laws came to town! It was really fun to watch them discover Canada and Montreal from a foreigner's point of view- and even more important a French point of view! I think there are so many things in Canada that remind me of the US, that I don't even notice the culture shocks as much, so it was really interesting to live all the French Canadian culture shocks through my parents in law visit. Let me know in the comments what you thought about some of things that surprised them!

[ambivalent]

I'm from Québec and yes for us it's very easy to understand French from france because we're way more exposed to their accent or content than they are to ours. Your example with Céline Dion is on point, when she goes to france she actually changes the way she speaks a bit to sound more "French" haha. Obviously there are some expressions we don't understand from france though, I used to struggle with the verlan or some expressions but that's normal. (and obviously some regional accents may take a bit of time to get used to)

[isabeault.perrelle]

As French-Canadians, we are very much exposed, and from an early age, to French-French, in movies, even in translations, because the "French-French" is considered like the "international" French. It has long been the French that the elites were speaking, so, in the past (maybe before the 1960s), if you had access to higher education, it was common to "Frenchifie" your accent. It was super common among the Church members, as well as in the medias. You'll probably hear the expression "Radio-Canada" French ("l'accent Radio-Canada"), which is the way the journalists working at Radio-Can used to speak on radio or TV (it's not the case today, but we still hear it in older presentators like Céline Galipeault or Charles Tisseyre, if you are curious).
Moreover, for a long period of time, the cultural exchanges were unilateral, usually from France to Quebec. In 30+ years of life (part in Quebec, part in France), I saw a change in the ways French people perceive and "hear" Québec French, and what they basically know of it, with more and more québécois artists (like singers or movie directors) getting known in France, and with a lot of Erasmus students coming to Montreal or Quebec.
I hope it answers a few of your questions about the understanding of the accent.

[lesfreresdelaquote]

I lived in Montréal from 1988 to 1995, and I distinctly remember how I struggle to understand Québécois French at the beginning. It took me about two weeks to fully adapt to the accent. Six months later, I could enjoy watching the weirdest movie ever: Elvis Gratton, which according to some of my Québécois friends was the ultimate test on Québécois French. It took two more years to get rid of my Québécois accent when I moved back to France in 1995.

[Christian_Martel]

Hi there. Interesting question. We hear often that French don’t understand Québécois while the latter understand the former. It’s more complex than that.

Here’s my own experience about it, as a Québécois who has lived and worked few years in Europe: It all depends on the registry used by the speakers.

There is no doubt that the formal language learned here, written and spoken, is standard French with minor adaptations. For example, the language used in television newscast differ lightly on accent, but are similar and intelligible on both sides of the Atlantic. Same thing for academics or professionals discussing in an official function.

The main difference comes when the speakers have an informal, familiar or popular language. The distinctiveness of Canadian French, predominantly Quebec French, is how the popular language (their many accents, contractions and vocabulary) used in daily life has evolved overtime and that is more related to the social and historical construct of daily life here in Quebec and Canada.

So, when Canadian and European francophones communicate, they generally have to carefully raise the formality level (the Canadian might have to raise a bit more) such that they understand each other, but it’s not impossible.

Yes, generally speaking, Canadian francophones have been more exposed to European content than vice versa, but recent trends tied with globalization, influences from many countries are being more and more understood by a growing diverse Francophonie.

[LifeontwowheelsRocks]

Language issues: much depends on whether the Québécois person and the French person are speaking what I'll call 'mainstream' French, as opposed to regional or class-based dialects. The most difficult Québécois dialect is what we call 'joual', especially when it's peppered with traditional curse words. The Parisian would find it all but completely incomprehensible. But when I speak French in the way I was taught in school (lived my entire life until 6 years ago in Montreal), I have had absolutely no difficulties with conversations in France. Love the channel. I live in Toronto, and I miss Montreal.

[michaelcalce]

Great video! As a native Montrealer, I would say that groceries prices have really shot up in the last year or so. Restaurant prices are also up 20%. We went to Paris in 2019, and my observations at the time were that mid-tier restaurant food prices were similar to those in Montreal in that a 60$ meal for 2 (no alcohol) was 60 euros. The the rate of exchange at the time (30%) was similar to our tax + tip (15% + 15%). However, when you add in alcohol, Paris is cheaper than Montreal when dining out. I would venture to say that Montreal is consistently one of the most expensive cities to dine out, although as far as Canadian cities go, Vancouver and Toronto are also expensive. However, what makes dining in Montreal great, is that you will have a tremendous variety of fusion dishes. Chefs in Montreal spend time eating at each others restaurants, and so take inspiration from each other. Add the multiculturalism to the cuisine, and you will find many unique and creative dishes: something that is harder to find in a traditional city like Paris. BTW, you will be shocked by the price of cheese here, especially if it is imported. You can find some really good Quebec cheeses, but it will cost more than France for similar quality. I like your observations as an American who lived in Paris and now moved to Montreal. You might find that Montreal is sort of a hybrid between Europe and the US. Looking forward to your next video.

[amy_]

Yes! Share more! It's so interesting.

[benoitgratton]

For the pizzas, it's not that common to order one pizza per person in Montreal : it's more commun to order bigger pizzas (like 16 inches or 18 inches) and spilt them with the family members. It's usually much less expensive this way.

Also, it will be less expensive if you order directly at the restaurant (either by phone or by their website) instead of using a delivery service like Uber Eats, Doordash and the likes.

[lucforand]

Love the headband. You look good in Blue!! This works well in both France and la Belle Province.

[cotepierre]

I have some Normand friends. They remind me constantly that they understand me very well. Parisian, well that’s an other story.

[sandihunter]

Loved this video. I wanted to mention that if you drive from Montreal into Ontario and visit places like Alfred, Hawkesbury you will meet Franco Ontarians, people born to French families that live in Ontario. This is a wonderful part of Eastern Ontario to visit and try the famous streamed hotdogs, all dressed with coleslaw. When I moved from Toronto to Ottawa I thought I had experienced a hot dog until visiting Alfred, best ever.

[doswheelsouges]

We understand each other at 90%. When regional accents come into play it's harder. When the French start using verlan...it's a mess.

To understand why there is so much differences between French of Québec and French from France, One have to go back to 1760 basically. That year mark the end of the seven years war between England, France and Spain. As a war reparation Québec is given away by Louis the 14th king of France to Georges third King of England. To make a long story short, in order to assimilate the population we were denied our political system, many basic civil rights and most of our institution unless we learn English and converted to Protestantism. which had the exact opposite effect. Catholicism came to an all time high and Québécois became jealously conservative of French language.

In the mean time French from France saw the end of monarchy and five different republics in their recent history. As a result their have a so called simplified french language that is influenced by Arabic language due to the proximity of those former colony. As oppose to Québécois who kept a very traditional French influenced by british occupation and the necessity for workers to deal with the foreman and bosses. anglicisms are usually linked to newer reality like cars or machinery. (beside Montréal which has a different demographic than the rest of the province)

In conclusion: Québécois still use all of the 17 phonêmes of Louis the 14th French when the contemporain France only use 14 (they completely lost 3 of them) they can't quite ear what we say. Plus the so called simplified french mean that they lost a great number of words that they consider obsolete but we just recycled them for a newer object that have the same fonction. Simply put Québecois easily understand French from France or Belgium but Europeans have hard time understanding us. (provided of course it's French not Arabic)

[femalism]

French Canadians are friendly, relaxed, and very informal.

[peggiescraftcafe]

Yes make a second video of your in-laws impressions. That would be fun.

[travelsaddict]

Hope you are safe and have no damage after the hit of the ice storm. Take care.

[sharonmclaughlin]

So interesting to hear their impressions!

[sylvainb]

When French Canadians or Québécois singers sing they usually have no accent. But it's harder for a French to understand our spoken language because we just don't get the same exposure in France as the French do have here in Québec.

[petersilva]

quebecer here... (anglo, but with pretty good French, my wife is quebecoise.) we were in Paris in the summer a few years ago, waiting for the bus, and it wasn't coming. We were confused. We asked a local what was going on... to my ears, her answer was "le guêpe ride" ( the wasp wrinkle... ) I was puzzled... When people from Quebec use anglicisms they tend to be closer to the original, whereas people in France tend to just read the English words using their natural pronuncitation. Case in point... turned out ¨guêpe ride" was ¨Gay Pride¨. ... It was the parade day.

[lauraramsey]

Frankly as an American I enjoy the fact that cashiers or people in stores chat a bit more in QC. When I did that in Belgium they looked at me like I was crazy. I find that Quebecers and Europeans tend to equally anglicize words, just completely different ones (week-end in Europe, fin de semaine in QC for example). Also yes, the food is way more expensive here in QC. The "rapport qualité-prix" is definitely not as good at the supermarket or restaurants. However, we moved just before inflation really took off in Europe so it has probably gotten worse there too. But on the other hand gas is cheaper. I think Quebecers do have an easier time understanding European French speakers than the other way around. The tir d'érable is so good! Have you been to a Cabane à Sucre with the big meal and the music and everything? So much fun, a must-do in late March and April.