Quebec, the French Language, and Quebecois Identity

[MonctonRad]

Originally Posted by thebasketballgeek

Wait till they find out the current Premier of Manitoba is also fluent in French. He already reinstated the position of Assistant Deputy Minister in French Education which was provoked back in 1974, and did an entire interview in French discussing the importance and future of the language in the province.

Here’s the link it’s a good listen: https://ici.radio-canada.ca/nouvelle/2011826/wab-kinew-election-manitoba-2023-fort-rouge-npd

The horrors!! Don't let the Quebec nationalists know! They would have a brain aneurism!!!

[Ozabald]

Originally Posted by thebasketballgeek

Wait till they find out the current Premier of Manitoba is also fluent in French. He already reinstated the position of Assistant Deputy Minister in French Education which was provoked back in 1974, and did an entire interview in French discussing the importance and future of the language in the province.

Here’s the link it’s a good listen: https://ici.radio-canada.ca/nouvelle/2011826/wab-kinew-election-manitoba-2023-fort-rouge-npd

Did not know Mr. Kinew is fluent in French. Thanks for sharing the link.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by thebasketballgeek

Wait till they find out the current Premier of Manitoba is also fluent in French. He already reinstated the position of Assistant Deputy Minister in French Education which was provoked back in 1974, and did an entire interview in French discussing the importance and future of the language in the province.

Here’s the link it’s a good listen: https://ici.radio-canada.ca/nouvelle/2011826/wab-kinew-election-manitoba-2023-fort-rouge-npd

Yes, I already knew that Premier Kinew speaks French.

[thebasketballgeek]

Originally Posted by Acajack

Yes, I already knew that Premier Kinew speaks French.

I didn’t mean you specifically but just in general it’s good to inform the thread that French is not in fact dying everywhere in Canada. Should we be taking more measures to preserve and grow the language 100%. But it’s also good to show the positive developments happening hors Québec. Especially for the people who weren’t aware of the fact. Although I’m glad you were already aware.

[MonctonRad]

Originally Posted by Ozabald

Did not know Mr. Kinew is fluent in French. Thanks for sharing the link.

Kinew covers all the bases. Bilingual and aboriginal.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

Kinew covers all the bases. Bilingual and aboriginal.

And not from Central Canada. Potential federal career at some point?

[MonctonRad]

Originally Posted by Acajack

And not from Central Canada. Potential federal career at some point?

Indeed. Too bad he's NDP.

Otherwise he seems like a very pleasant and decent fellow. Personable and reasonable. I could vote for him (except for the NDP bit).

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by thebasketballgeek

I didn’t mean you specifically but just in general it’s good to inform the thread that French is not in fact dying everywhere in Canada. Should we be taking more measures to preserve and grow the language 100%. But it’s also good to show the positive developments happening hors Québec. Especially for the people who weren’t aware of the fact. Although I’m glad you were already aware.

I am pretty aware of the good, the bad and the ugly.

1-800 line service in French is pretty good in Ontario as well.

MonctonRad's province of New Brunswick is actually really good in terms of service in French in those areas where most of the francophones live. Of course, these are often 100% francophone so any local staff will tend to be francophones by default.

It does break down a bit in areas where the francophone share dips, but overall they're about as good as the feds are. And the feds are very good in areas that are quite predominantly francophone, namely Quebec, NE and NW New Brunswick, and far eastern and far northern Ontario.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

Indeed. Too bad he's NDP.

Otherwise he seems like a very pleasant and decent fellow. Personable and reasonable. I could vote for him (except for the NDP bit).

If you Google him you'll find he some skeletons in his past, but hopefully for him and Manitobans that's all over and done with now.

[New Brisavoine]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

It's interesting to speculate how the US would negotiate with an independent Quebec over the transmission of Churchill Falls power from the 51st state of Newfoundland to the lower 48.

I somehow suspect that Hydro Quebec would lose their cash cow real quick........

The US were not even able to cow Cuba, so a far more advanced society like Québec, seriously?

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by New Brisavoine

The US were not even able to cow Cuba, so a far more advanced society like Québec, seriously?

Anyway, if Québec independence is Political Fiction 2.0, Newfoundland separating from Canada and joining the US is Political Fiction 5.0 or 10.0.

[New Brisavoine]

Originally Posted by Acajack

Yes, I already knew that Premier Kinew speaks French.

He, on the other hand, has a real Anglo accent (and is a bit hard to listen to at times, as if he was searching for his words, whereas Poilievre is fluent and easy to listen to, except for the odd grammar mistake).

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by New Brisavoine

He, on the other hand, has a real Anglo accent (and is a bit hard to listen to at times, as if he was searching for his words, whereas Poilievre is fluent and easy to listen to, except for the odd grammar mistake).

Just watched the interview. It's also more like a community television interview than something you'd see on Radio-Canada's television network: the camera is good, but the rest like the setting, how they are sitting, the way the reporter is dressed and has large sheets of paper, etc.

And I think the reporter might be compatriote of New Brisavoine.

[hipster duck]

Originally Posted by New Brisavoine

He, on the other hand, has a real Anglo accent (and is a bit hard to listen to at times, as if he was searching for his words, whereas Poilievre is fluent and easy to listen to, except for the odd grammar mistake).

The French to English accent shift is hard in either direction.

Of all the languages I can passably speak, I find French the hardest to pronounce. Tonal languages are also hard, but the propensity to trip over words is not as high as it is in French. I don't really know how to describe it. I've never heard a French person who learned English after 18 nail one of the Anglo accents, either, which leads me to think it's a two way street.

Among people here, I imagine that Acajack has no accent in either language (i.e. a standard, middle class Quebecois accent in French, and an "Ontario and west" accent in English), and maybe lio too (?).

[Ozabald]

Originally Posted by Acajack

Anyway, if Québec independence is Political Fiction 2.0, Newfoundland separating from Canada and joining the US is Political Fiction 5.0 or 10.0.

It's not as far-fetched as you may think.

Give this book a read:
https://macleans.ca/culture/books/dont-t...newfoundlands-confederation-with-canada/

[New Brisavoine]

Originally Posted by hipster duck

The French to English accent shift is hard in either direction.

Of all the languages I can passably speak, I find French the hardest to pronounce. Tonal languages are also hard, but the propensity to trip over words is not as high as it is in French. I don't really know how to describe it. I've never heard a French person who learned English after 18 nail one of the Anglo accents, either, which leads me to think it's a two way street.

Among people here, I imagine that Acajack has no accent in either language (i.e. a standard, middle class Quebecois accent in French, and an "Ontario and west" accent in English), and maybe lio too (?).

French is closer to German in terms of sounds (which is not surprising as French is the evolution of late Latin under Germanic influence due to the Frankish invasion). Native German speakers can speak surprisingly good French, with the proper accent, whereas native Anglophones can never speak unaccented French.

In my entire life, I have only met once an Anglophone (Australian guy studying in Paris) who could speak unaccented French. I was really stunned. At first I didn't even know he wasn't French. His only mistake in the entire year we spent together was he once said "la bambou" instead of "le bambou".

But apart from this exceptional case, Anglophones simply cannot speak unaccented French. Germanophones (and also Russophones) can. Spanish and Italian speakers are like English speakers: they cannot speak unaccented French.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by Ozabald

It's not as far-fetched as you may think.

Give this book a read:
https://macleans.ca/culture/books/dont-t...newfoundlands-confederation-with-canada/

Oh, I know the story. But thanks.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by hipster duck

The French to English accent shift is hard in either direction.

Of all the languages I can passably speak, I find French the hardest to pronounce. Tonal languages are also hard, but the propensity to trip over words is not as high as it is in French. I don't really know how to describe it. I've never heard a French person who learned English after 18 nail one of the Anglo accents, either, which leads me to think it's a two way street.

Among people here, I imagine that Acajack has no accent in either language (i.e. a standard, middle class Quebecois accent in French, and an "Ontario and west" accent in English), and maybe lio too (?).

I have little accent in either language, though it also depends how much I've been speaking either language.

When I've been speaking English a lot, I probably have a similar accent to Justin Trudeau's English.

Though a lot of the time, I probably sound a lot like this guy. A lot of people would say this guy has no discernable non-anglo traits in his English accent, but I can pick out the francophone traits easily. He is a Franco-Ontarian from Ottawa and a former city councillor. In French he is instantly recognizable to me as not from Quebec.

https://www.ted.com/talks/mathieu_fleury_the_key_to_solving_homelessness

In French it's hard to say but I probably have a fairly standard urban middle class accent for southern Quebec (this side of Trois-Rivières - things change a bit there going eastward). I get asked from time to time if I am a Montréalais and generally speaking no one suspects I'm not originally from Quebec. (They used to a bit when I first moved here.) My kids who know me better than most anyone else and are Quebec born and raised, tell me I do have non-Québécois touches in my accent (either Franco-Ontarian or Acadian), but they're more attuned to that due to our proximity.

Note that when I spend time in the Maritimes, my old Acadian accent comes back a little bit.

[harls]

Originally Posted by New Brisavoine

In my entire life, I have only met once an Anglophone (Australian guy studying in Paris) who could speak unaccented French. I was really stunned. At first I didn't even know he wasn't French. His only mistake in the entire year we spent together was he once said "la bambou" instead of "le bambou".

But apart from this exceptional case, Anglophones simply cannot speak unaccented French. Germanophones (and also Russophones) can. Spanish and Italian speakers are like English speakers: they cannot speak unaccented French.

My kids have no accent in either language. At least to my ears.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by harls

My kids have no accent in either language. At least to my ears.

There is a pretty good chance they don't. We have some friends in the same situation (bilingual anglo ROCer parent + Québécois francophone parent + French schooling) and the kids sound like native francophones and native anglophones in either language.