Word Differences Between French Language Countries!! (France, Belgium, Canada)

Today, we invited 3 pannels from France, Belgium and Canada
And compare the words they use
Hope you enjoy the video
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🇫🇷 Lucie @ricartlu

[jonathanlafleche]

The French girl said she was from Northern France. The reason why her vocabulary is similar to the one in Québec is because many French Canadians' ancestry is from Normandie, Picardie and Bretagne, all regions in northern France.

A lot of words in the québécois vocabulary are words that survive from middle French. You have to think about it this way: canadien culture became insular after it lost its connection to the motherland in 1763 and evolved independently from metropolitan France.

Regarding the word "peanut", French Canadians will say "pinotte" and "arachide". Cacahuète is seldom used. Cacahuète is actually a borrowed word from Nahuatl (Aztec language), "cacahuatl". There are quite a few words borrowed from indigenous languages in French such as "caoutchouc" (rubber) and "maringouïn" (moustique/mosquito).

About "liqueur", I think this is better explained when you look at the history of soda. It was initially made as medicine. "Liqueur" was also used as a colloquial for liquid medicine. It's one of those preserved old words from middle French.

[mishah]

Belgium French numbers make so much more sense. I'm Canadian and planning on confusing my friends now.

[benoitlamirault]

Québec French is simply closer to old French which was pretty dominant at that time. So most of the "English influence" you hear in Quebecois are actually signs of French influences on English.

[VLTN]

As a native French speaker from Belgium, we say Déjeuner for Breakfast, Dîner for lunch, and Souper for Dinner... 😅

[oldbeergangster]

Many words we use in French Canada, that sound like they came from english, are actually the original French words that where adopted by the English under Norman rule.

For instance, we still sometimes say “va chercher la malle”, for “go and get the mail”. The word mail actually comes from the French word malle (the bag or suitcase used to carry letters by the mailman).

[davidwork]

Ex Montrealer here:
Soda = Boisson gazeuse
Peanut = Arachide
What I'd love to hear is the most outlandish saying from their area. I know that a friend of mine who comes from Farnam Qc says "C'est pas le pogo le plus dégelé de la boite." to say that someone isn't particularly smart or alert. It literally translated to "He's not the most thawed of Pogos in the box"

[evertonpereira]

I'm learning french and the numbers from 70 to 99 are my nightmares, why we just don't adopt the belgium way anyway? Ahaha

[eôten-jy]

For anyone interested, the Belgian numbers (septante, nonante) come from Old French and were once used more widely in France. The forms huitante and octante also show up in some dialects, such as some in Switzerland, Acadia, Vaud, and Valais. The extinct Anglo-Norman dialect also had these numbers (i.e setaunte, uitaunte, nonaunte; though, many different spellings/versions existed in AN). The Standard French system is believed to be a relic of the Pre-Roman Gauls, who probably used a vigesimal (base 20) counting system

[BigSlimyBlob]

"Breuvage" is an odd one. Like most words present in both French and English, it came from French. But it passed into English back when it was actually "Beverage" in French, and the French form changed while the English one didn't. That's unusual.

"Pinotte" is hilarious just because of how ridiculously Québécois it sounds despite coming from English, though we do say "cacahuète" and "arachide" as well.

I think "Septante", "Octante" and "Nonante" are super cool, but in Québec they are largely unknown. It doesn't help that months have been displaced by two, with SEPTembre being the 9th month, OCTObre being the 10th, NOVembre being the 11th, and DÉCembre being the 12th.

[Coast-to-Coast]

Oh my gosh the "patate" discourse makes me feel so validated. That's what I learned for potato in French immersion in New Brunswick. When I moved to BC, I was in a French class in school and the teacher asked the class how to say potato in French. I said "patate" and both he, who learned French in Ontario, and the EA, who learned it in France, told me wasn't a real word. But in the video are people from France, Canada, and Belgium who all know "patate". So take that 7th grade French teacher.

[janel]

I've always found it odd that my French friends accused us Canadians of taking from english when I always heard them say words like building when we have bâtiment lol. The comments explaining old/middle french is fascinating and enlightening to me :)

[kimgroslouis]

It's funny because in Québec in elementary school we learn French from France and how to spell the words the right way but our environment, family and culture make us speak our own way, accent and different slangs. When French people come to Québec we understand them but they seem to have a little hard time understanding us though. When it happens we adjust ourselves like French mode 😉. As a woman from Québec city I think it's beautiful all these differences from different countries. Also, English from America, Ireland, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and British, they are all different. So cool in my point of view 😊

[lucdelhaize]

My French originates from African context and so we refer to peanuts as arachide which is actually far closer to its botanical name Arachid. Sometimes French language as spoken in France is highly and unnecessarily complicated so I prefer how it is spoken in Belgium and Switzerland.

[etesvgz]

I love Quebec. People seems so nice. After my studies, I will try to go in this beautiful country (Canada) 😍 At the beginning, I wasn't a big fan of their way to talk but with the time, I've started to love it for no reasons x)

[Noah_ol]

The lady from Belgium is so good, she said she can speaks dutch as well, i would like to see

[kosh]

The belgium girl is so wholesome, she brings happiness and joy ! Hope to see her in other vids

[oldbeergangster]

We used to say “souper” in all of francophonie and that is also where English got its “supper”(in Québec and Belgium we have kept the traditional form), while the later Parisian meals schedule changed to “diner” and was adopted in most of France.

[violondesocrate]

It is worth noting that in Canadian English, the last meal of the day is also traditionally called supper! In this respect, Canadian French and Canadian English are conveniently in agreement. Québecois French simply preserves the original meal names from France before mealtimes shifted and the concept of petit déjeuner arose as dîner was pushed to the end of the day.

[mixueer]

Wait, I'm Canadian and I say "arachide" for "peanut". Quebec City French is different to Montreal French. There's also differences if you live in Acadie, Northern or SE Ontario, or Manitoba French. Also, I learned "diner" or "souper" for dinner, dejeuner is lunch. But I'm also from the Anglo part of Canada that uses both "dinner" AND "supper" for the evening meal. There's other parts of Canada where that's different as well. I think this is regional to a certain extent...

[romainsings]

"breuvage", not "bevrage" for anyone learning French ☺