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Home French Canadian French vs. French: Key Phrases and Differences To Know
FrenchLearn French


CANADIAN FRENCH VS. FRENCH: KEY PHRASES AND DIFFERENCES TO KNOW

by Jamie Edwards August 29, 2024
written by Jamie Edwards Updated by Brie Greenhalgh August 29, 2024

12.2K

Oh, Canada! A sprawling, warm-hearted country that you might know for its famous
friendliness, impressive mountains, cosmopolitan cities, maple syrup, and love
of hockey. There’s also a rich variety of language and culture in Canada,
including several Francophone areas—the biggest of which is Québec.

As a learner of French, a trip to French-speaking Canada might be at the top of
your list, and we think that’s une bonne idée (a good idea)! But does Québec
speak French or Canadian French? Though the French spoken in Canada is unique,
your Standard French will definitely come in handy. No matter what dialect or
region you’re exploring, Rosetta Stone’s Dynamic Immersion can bring linguistic
variety right to your fingertips, mirroring the way you first acquired language
as a child.


TABLE OF CONTENTS

 * How Canadian French originated
 * What French dialects are spoken in Canada? 
 * How many people speak French in Canada?
 * How to identify the French Canadian accent
 * What are the differences between Canadian French and Standard French?
 * Words or phrases to use in French-speaking Canada
 * Explore French in every region with Rosetta Stone




HOW CANADIAN FRENCH ORIGINATED

Canada history with France began in 1534 when explorer Jacques Cartier arrived
in Newfoundland.  French settlers— many of them fur traders—colonized much of
the northern lands that are now Canada. This included what is now known as
Québec, first founded in 1608 by Samuel de Champlain. 

The British Empire also encouraged settlers to move to the Americas to ensure a
foothold in the new, abundant land. While many of them settled farther south (as
far as Florida), citizens of both countries co-existed in many areas near the
Great Lakes and today’s New England through the French and Indian War and
Revolutionary War. Even when French colonial rule came to an end, the French
language and culture persisted in some areas, which influenced the official
founding of Canada in 1867.  

In 1969, the Official Languages Act recognized both English and French as
co-official languages and granted them equal status by law. Today, the federal
government of Canada operates in both languages, and provincial governments and
territories are required to provide bilingual instruction to their students.




WHAT FRENCH DIALECTS ARE SPOKEN IN CANADA? 

The proximity to English speakers, paired with the sheer geographical vastness
of Canada, created three groups of French speakers. Somewhat isolated from each
other, the dialects evolved individually, but they each share features that
differ from European French. Québecois is the dominant French dialect of the
province of Québec and will be the focus of this post. 

There are also specific dialects associated with each of the provinces of
Canada, as Francophone communities maintained their language and culture over
centuries. The other French Canadian dialects include Acadian, Franco-Ontarian,
and Terre-Neuve (Newfoundland) French. Throughout Canada, and even south of the
Canadian border, are other Francophone communities with related dialects.   




HOW MANY PEOPLE SPEAK FRENCH IN CANADA?

Across the continent, over 7 million Canadians speak French as their first
language, though about 10 million can speak conversational French. This equates
to about 22 percent of the Canadian population. In nearly every province you
will find pockets of Francophone communities, each with their own language
distinctives. 

If you’re traveling to Canada as a student or tourist, you’ll see signage and
documents in both English and French. This is the case throughout the country,
but if you really want to focus on learning to speak French, opt for a community
that is majority Francophone like Québec.




QUÉBEC

The vast majority of Canadian French speakers live in Québec—so much so that
French is the sole official language in this province. In Québec, over 84
percent of people speak Québecois (the French dialect spoken in Québec) as their
first or second language. As of the 2021 Canadian census, 7,074,328 people speak
French in Québec.




ACADIA

Along the Atlantic, you’ll find the region called Acadia which includes New
Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island. Each of these areas have
strong French-speaking traditions that are unique to the area, but they also
have bilingual influence from English. Approximately 327,000 French speakers
live in this area.




ONTARIO

Many newcomers of all language backgrounds choose to settle in Toronto. Over
60,000 people speak French in this dynamic and multicultural metropolis, but
526,000 people speak French in all of Ontario as of the 2021 census.




WESTERN CANADA

As you travel further west, you are more likely to find only smaller pockets of
people maintaining their long-standing francophone heritage, such as St.
Boniface (part of Winnipeg) in Manitoba, Gravelbourg in Saskatchewan, and St.
Paul in Alberta. 

 * Alberta: 72,203
 * British Columbia: 65,583
 * Manitoba: 38,378
 * Saskatchewan: 12,243
 * Yukon: 1,895




HOW TO IDENTIFY THE FRENCH CANADIAN ACCENT

Everyone has an accent that reflects the pronunciation and cadences of their
native language from childhood. Most English speakers know the difference among
American, British, and Australian dialects. And within each of them, there are
regional dialects that can be learned from Southern American English to Cockney
English. You’ll also find the same differences in accents between Canadian
French and Standard French.  

For someone who grows up in Québec, different accents might be obvious between
cities, but several things distinguish most Québecois from Standard French. That
includes a few differences in how France and Canada use French accent marks or
diacritics.

 * Many vowels are pronounced differently, with more diphthongs used in
   Québecois. 
 * The “o” in words like chose (thing) in Québecois will sound as though you are
   pronouncing both “o” and “oo.” 
 * The “oi” sound in moi (me) sounds more like “oé.”
 * The final “ain” sound in words like main (hand) sounds like “a-in” with a
   very nasal sound. 

These vowel sounds reflect an older form of French, as pronounced by the
original colonizers who would have become disconnected from how French in France
evolved.

 * Speech in Canada is considered to have more of a “sing-song” quality when
   compared with France.
 * Vowels and word endings with silent consonants have more of a nasal sound,
   which can even lead to confusion between words, such as parents (parents)
   which could be confused with parrains (godparents). 
 * A careful listener will hear an “s” or “z” sound in some words with “t” or
   “d” consonants, such as mardi (Tuesday) which sounds more like “mardzi” or
   “extraordinaire” (amazing) which sounds like “extraordzinaire.” 

It can be really fun to compare and contrast how new friends and acquaintances
pronounce words. Though adapting to the Canadian French accent is more difficult
for a European French speaker than perhaps a Swiss French accent, having
patience, a sense of humor, and curiosity is the key to success.



> 


WHAT ARE THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN CANADIAN FRENCH AND STANDARD FRENCH?

If you ask a native French speaker from France, they’ll say they don’t recognize
the French spoken in Canada, thanks to centuries of separation and influences.
While this is a little bit tongue in cheek, the reality is that you can
generally communicate and understand each other no matter which French dialect
you use. The key is context in conversation. Here are a few differences between
Canadian French and Standard French in France.




LESS FORMALITY

Canadian French speakers use the more informal French pronoun tu (you) instead
of vous (you) much more often than in France. This can make it feel easier and
more casual to learn. The use of tu with strangers is considered impolite in
France but not so much in Canada. It’s still not a bad idea to use vous, just in
case, though you may be given permission right away to tutoyer (to use the tu
form).  

You’ll also notice more use of on (informal “we”) instead of nous (standard,
formal “we”). In this case, French verbs are conjugated like the il/elle form,
so it’s a little simpler to form some sentences, too. 




INFLUENCE OF ENGLISH AND FIRST NATION LANGUAGES

There are many First Nation communities throughout Canada, leading to loan-words
that are specific to other indigenous languages.  Some of these aboriginal
tribes are the Métis and Inuit nations, and about 1.8 million people are
indigenous to Canada. When French colonizers encountered natives of the
Americas, they adopted many words for items and animals they had no words for.
This loan-word practice is seen in many Canadian French words even today.

French Word (Borrowed)English Meaningun achigana black bassune babichea
snowshoeun carcajoua wolverineun maringouina mosquitoun mocassina moccasin

English has a strong presence and influence in Canada, so anglicismes (words and
phrases influenced by the English language) are quite common. They do not
necessarily correspond with the anglicismes used in France, however! 

CanadaFranceEnglish MeaningARRÊTSTOPSTOP (on a stop sign) C’est très le
fun.C’est très amusant. It’s really fun. cette fin de semainece weekendthis
weekendJ’ai parqué mon charJ’ai stationné ma voitureI parked my carJe vais faire
du magasinageJe vais faire du shoppingI’m going to go shoppingle courrielle
mailthe maille chien chaudLe hotdogthe hot dogun jokeune blaguea joke




NAMES OF MEALS 

If you’ve studied the difference between the names of meals in France versus
Switzerland or Belgium, then this will be a familiar difference from Canada. The
words for “dinner,” “supper,” and even “tea” can cause confusion in English as
well, so it is useful to know the common words in the region you are visiting. 

CanadaFranceEnglish MeaningLe déjeunerLe petit-déjeunerthe first meal in the
morning, breakfast Le dînerLe déjeunermid-day meal
lunch, luncheon, dinner (depending on English-speaking region) Le souperLe
dînerevening meal
dinner, supper (depending on English-speaking region) 




INTEGRATING OLDER AND NEWER TERMS  

Just like in European French-speaking countries Switzerland and Belgium, there
are traces of older French dialects that are still in use today, but have
disappeared or are now considered antiquated in France. For example, barrer
means “to lock” in Québec, but has been replaced with fermer à clé or
verrouiller in France. 

On the other hand, terms that have been invented specifically for things that
exist only in Canada, such as some terms in government, technology, or words for
newer products or ideas, will be different from France as well.  

 * un dépanneur = a small grocery store/corner store




USING TU IN QUESTIONS 

In informal conversation in Québecois, questions can include the word tu as a
marker of a question, in place of est-ce que. This is absent in formal French
and in Europe. 

 * Elle a-tu dit oui? = Did she say yes? 
 * Il veut-tu aller au marché? = Does he want to go to the market? 

As you can see, using tu to indicate a question can be confused with the subject
pronoun tu (you), but it serves the purpose of forming questions more quickly.  




WORDS OR PHRASES TO USE IN FRENCH-SPEAKING CANADA

Though there are many differences in Québecois French, your French will be
helpful in Canada, especially with those who are used to communicating with
learners. Despite the proximity of the United States to Canada, students tend to
learn Standard French in schools over Canadian French, unless they are very near
the border where it’s more important to learn.




GREETINGS AND POLITE CONVERSATION

Québecois FrenchStandard/European FrenchEnglish MeaningBienvenue!De rien ! Je
vous en prieYou’re welcomeBonne journée!Au revoir !Goodbye/good dayC’est
amusant!C’est le fun ! It’s fun!Il fait frette!Il fait froid !It’s cold!




DIFFERENT WORDS

We can’t list every vocabulary difference between French and Canadian French,
but here are a few you’ll encounter: 

Canadian FrenchStandard/European FrenchEnglish Meaningdes basdes
chaussettesocksdes souliersdes chaussuresshoesla boucanela fuméesmokela
facteurune additiona bill/check (at a restaurant) le soccerle football, le
footsoccer, European footballles vidangesles poubellesgarbage, trash, rubbishun
bicyclette (un bicyc) un véloa bikeun breuvageune boissona drinkun charune
voiturea carun chumun copaina boyfriendun costume de bainun maillot de baina
bathing suit/swimsuitune balayeuseun aspirateura vacuum-cleanerune blondeune
copinea girlfriendune camisoleun débardeura sleeveless t-shirtune cellulaireun
portablea cell phoneune débarbouilletteUne petite serviette/ Un gant de
toilettea washcloth/face clothune effaceune gommean eraser (from a pencil) une
laveuseune machine à lavera washing machineune liqueurune boisson gazeusea
carbonated beverageune pinotteune cacahuètea peanutune sacocheun sac à maina
handbagune tuqueun bonneta beanie/wool hat




EXPLORE FRENCH IN EVERY REGION WITH ROSETTA STONE

Whether you’re planning a trip, or just connecting with Canadian culture online,
learning about the French in Canada will enrich your language learning
experience. Just a bit of awareness of regional language differences helps us
stay curious and ask questions to avoid too much confusion.  

Navigate these common travel situations and more with ease. Rosetta Stone’s App
has a Phrasebook that teaches you useful phrases related to dining out, getting
around, health and safety, and more. Hear a native speaker pronounce each
expression and practice saying them yourself, so you’ll be prepared for any
real-world encounter no matter which French-speaking country you visit.

Learn French Today


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JAMIE EDWARDS

Jamie Edwards is a Spanish and French teacher who loves learning and writing
about both Spanish and French. Her “places to explore” list never gets shorter
because she always wants to return! Her sights are set on Scotland and Italy
next.



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