Canadian french language vs. Language spoken in France?

Question

Are they similar or is it like German and Swiss-German (almost completely different languages?)

Answer 1

Interintelligibility of formally and informally spoken Quebec French with Metropolitan French is a matter of heated debates between linguists. If a comparison can be made, the differences between both dialects are probably larger than those between American and British English, but not as large as those between standard German and Swiss German.

In general, European French speakers have no problems understanding newscasts or other moderately formal speech. However, they may have great difficulty understanding for example a sitcom dialogue. This is due more to idioms, slang, and vocabulary than to accent or pronunciation. European French users will also have difficulty with colloquial speech of Quebecers, for sitcom dialogue reflects everyday speech. However, when speaking to a European French speaker, a French speaker from Quebec is capable of shifting to a slightly more formal, "international" type of speech.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quebec_French

History of Quebec French
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Quebec_French

Quebec French phonology
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quebec_French_pronunciation

Quebec French syntax
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quebec_French_syntax

Quebec French lexicon
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quebec_French_lexicon

Quebec French profanity
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quebec_French_profanity

Answer 2

They're basically similar. As wikipidia says, a French Canadian can understand a French from France and vice-versa. Sometimes it's hard because of this accent.

I'd say it's quite the same difference American English and British English have.

French have their own words and Canadians too. For example in French a fire extinguisher is " extincteur " and French Canadian it's "gicleur à mousse".

Answer 3

There are slangs that are used here in Quebec and a few local dialects, but someone from France can certainly understand someone from Quebec and vice-versa.

There are differences even in regions of France (like Parisiens who pronounce the silent "e" at the end of words), so should not be an issue.

If you want some good examples of Quebec spoken french, get a copy of one of these movies:

The Rocket - the story of Maurice "Rocket" Richard starring Roy Dupuis.

Bon Cop Bad Cop - Starring Colm Feore and Patrick Huard

Answer 4

Some of the words are the same, verb tenses are the same, however, the comparison is much like listenging to someone speaking English who is from the Southern States and someone who has no twangy drawl. And if you want to hear even worse French, try northern Ontario, now that just sounds terrible.

Proper spoken French (as in French spoken in France) is a beautiful language.

And I wouldn't trust Wikipedia as a source...it's not reliable.

Answer 5

i am quebecois french and there is a major difference between france and french canadian language
first every aera of quebec as is dilect second metropolitain french was part of our language but now it more a quebec french others part of canada still learn parisian french and metropolitain french not quebec
you can talk to a french from france but with some difficulty since we dont used the same frenxh concerning the extinteur in france we dont used the mousse one but extincteur in quebec and others part of canada we used the english version a lot here

Answer 6

In addition to the information in much of the foregoing Answers:
Ironically, there are more anglicisms used in French french - especially American English terms and words - than in québécois french, and Quebec french retains certain words and idioms that long ago passed out of French french.. For examples: in France there is "le parking" and "le pressing" (dry cleaner shop), while here in Québec there is ONLY "stationnement" and "nettoyage"; in France 1/100 of the basic monetary unit is a centime versus it's still being called un sou in Québec and when we name something to honour a person, like a bridge, we still hyphenate the name which they stopped doing in France hundreds of years ago. (People from France often criticize us for appearing to be trying to be more Catholic than the Pope in language matters).

Further most Non-Canadians are unaware that there are three French-speaking heritage cultures here, not just one, each with linguistic peculiarities. In addition to the québécois (which itself has dialectual differences in different parts of the province) there is the acadién and the métis. When I visit Acadian French speaking New Brunswick much is difficult to understand for me.

Answer 7

french is french
same wherever u go