I took five years of French in high school and college. I can conjugate the shit out of a subjunctive clause, but hearing people speak French still sounds like szhluhblepluh.
Only in Quebec would a cashier use 'tu' with a customer so freely... It's actually refreshing compared to the formality of everyday interactions in European francophone countries!
I have a friend who just moved here from Australia, she's taking French classes and they're teaching her all formal vous shit and I'm like, we don't really do that, I don't even do that with my grandmother.
It's funny we attract a lot of French people on work travel visas and you can see them get twisted up about it when they're new.
Reminds me of the English varieties in the post-colonial Caribbean countries (Trinidadian, Jamaican). Very informal compared to Received Pronunciation.
Even for customers in their 20s? I’m in Germany and some youngish people actually get annoyed when I use the formal you with them. I would prefer they get annoyed in that direction, so I keep doing it (unless they appear to be at least a decade younger than me or I feel like I actually know them well enough to be informal- my metric is whether I’d feel comfortable making a genuine joke vs. a customer service joke with them), but it’s definitely not helping with any tips.
Worst shame I felt in my life was trying to check into a hotel in QC, QC in French and the rely being "ID and credit card please." 😭
(But for Montreal when they say Bonjour/Hi they are trying to ask what language you want to be spoken to so it's totally okay to say hi if you are Anglo don't make it more confusing by replying bonjour lol)
Same with federal officials, like at customs, where they typically start with “hello, bonjour”. Reply “bonjour”, and you may quickly reveal yourself to be a francophony.
The bonjour/hi is mostly used where there are higher percentages of english speaking people, so mainly downtown and in the west island.
In neighbourhoods like Villeray or Plateau people will assume you speak french but will switch to english if they see you struggling with it.
This happened to me on my honeymoon. I explained to my spouse that we could shop in Montréal without issue by looking bored as we put our shopping on the counter while mumbling "Bonjour," paying the amount displayed (this was... some time ago), them take our bag while mumbling "Merci."
It worked for a few hours, until someone asked about my shirt.
When I spent 4 weeks in France for business, the biggest compliment I got was that I didn't sound Quebecois. As a Canadian anglophone that only took French in high school, I'll take that as the high praise it is.
They don't teach QC French in canadian schools tho. That's how the anglos get clocked so easily.
They may not now, but they did.
While I was in France I wanted to buy some chocolate, so I asked the desk clerk at the hotel where a convenience store was. He looked at me like I had two heads. So I asked where to buy chocolate, and he helped me. Later I looked it up - the word I knew for a convenience store is "depanneur", but apparently in continental French that's a mechanic.
Sacred Blue!
I got "would you like your receipt?" replied to me after saying "bonjour" at a gas station in Quebec.
The French teacher at my high school grew up in France and moved to the US in her 40s, and loves to bring up how often she is in Canada and some places in Quebec, many people refuse to speak to her in French. Every year she would bring up how some places that speak French will critique your accent much harder than others, and you might not get the conversations you hope for.
She says she refuses to speak in English if she's in a primarily French speaking area. Which if you live in a foreign country, I can totally see wanting to stick with your original language whenever possible if only to keep it in your mind. I can't imagine living in a country that wasn't primarily English speaking, not because I don't want to learn and use another language, but because it's a huge change.
Tns of respect for any non native speaker in a foreign country. It can't be easy, even after years of immersion. Don't apologize for your accent, you speak my language infinitely better than I speak yours.
"Some places in Quebec" might just be anglophone regions.
They understand French, but don’t like to speak it.
Source: I was born in Quebec with French as a native language, and some people will speak English to me even if I really try to make it French.
Chances are you were busted just by the way of how you pronounced bonjour.
Not necessarily. Depending where they grew up in Canada, they might have a decent background in basic French. Enough to get a decent accent and know their colours, days of the week, greetings, and other simple stuff. I think the provinces close to Quebec/New Brunswick generally have decent French instruction in public school, but BC/AB/SK have terrible French education at most schools.
But ain't no way most English-speaking Canadians have the vocabulary or comprehension speed for any real functional use.
Things that never happened
They would immediately know you don’t speak French when you tried to say bonjour
And then the cashier will sigh in relief because it was otherwise going to be a broken French duel.
Went through something similar hahaha
While in France with my cousin, I started saying "bonjour" "bonsoir" and "mérci", but stopped when he told me: "if you speak in french people will think you actually know how to speak it"
So then I gave up (until I start actually learning)
This happened to me at the bar last week. I made like I spoke the language and I usually can get by fine but this time the bartender asked something different, my one weak point.
I say: "bonjour... Hello" then they know I don't speak French, but try in order to be polite.
Eska vu puré parlé en Anglé, silvuplé?
They sure called your bluff!
Me in every country I visit.
A Quebecer thing, but that doesn't sound like anything anyone would say here.
This caught me off guard and was my first laugh of the day. Still smiling. Loved it.
💚
Lmfao
Montreal is a bit North for me. I feel pretty sneaky when I can get away with Hola, coma esta? And then a smile and a nod though. It's like I'm a goddamn native!
