ToutCanadien - Canadian French / Quebec French / Quebecois

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Welcome! ♦ Bienvenue !

This is where you come to learn CANADIAN FRENCH (or Quebec French or North-American French, whatever you choose to call it).

Thousands and thousands of English-speaking North Americans of French-Canadian descent have lost their heritage language; many would like to get it back! Or maybe you would simply prefer to learn Canadian French over European French for any number of reasons—both known and yet to be discovered. Canada being the United States' biggest trading partner is just one very good reason to start! Maybe your future in-laws are from Chicoutimi or you're being transferred to Montreal.

Well, you've come to the right place! The mission of this site is to become the most complete on-line resource for the acquisition or the reacquisition of the North-American French Language. This mission is especially dedicated to all Franco-Americans who have lost their heritage language directly or indirectly due to the prejudices, discrimination, persecution, and injustices of the past. Time to move on!

ToutCanadien…
Your single trusted source for entry into the French Language of North America!

Overview - In a Flash

Overview - In Depth

You will note that I use the terms "North-American French" and "Canadian French" interchangeably. This is done intentionally. The fact of the matter is most of the French spoken in North America is Canadian French. Nonetheless, you should know that there are actually two major divisions of the French language in Canada: Quebec French and Acadian French. (Quebec French is also often called Laurentian French by linguists because it developed along the Saint Lawrence.) There are some interesting differences between the two branches, which should not be downplayed, but due to historical reasons, Quebec by far dominates the scene and therefore "Canadian French" here really does mean "Quebec French." Making yourself understood using your Quebec French will not be a problem in Acadia (New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island); however, you may have some minor difficulties with comprehension (mainly due to structure), but certainly no more than you'd have with a Parisian.

Politics ♦ Politiques

There are basically two camps of thought where Canadian French is concerned. There are the aménagistes who want to keep the French in Canada distinct and unique and then there are the exogènistes who want the language to blend into the rest of French-speaking world with little fuss. If you need to ask where this author, webmaster, and activist stands on this matter, you obviously missed something very important in the "www.ToutCanadien.com" web address you used to get here.

Oftentimes the differences between Canadian French and Euro French are downplayed to the point of rationalizing the need for only one resource. Funny how that one resource always seems to end up being a Euro French resource with some special little mark for Canadianisms.

If the chasm between the two variations—Canadian versus European—were not that wide, there would be little need for this site and there would be a lot less rambling-on where this subject is concerned. In addition, you'd have to ask yourself how come web sites like Yahoo and Facebook—to name just two—offer both a Canadian French and Euro French variation to their service—not to mention the fact that Microsoft offers a Canadian French spell-check for its applications. But ultimately, why would any intelligent, thinking adult believe that after over 400 years of separation that the language should look and sound the same on both sides of the Atlantic?! Neither Spanish, Portuguese, nor English remain identical to their European counterparts and those languages remained in close contact with their mother countries; new-world French was intentionally kept very isolated from Europe for the political reasons of the time. Consequently, of the four major European languages of the Western Hemisphere (English, Spanish, Portuguese, and French), French has the widest gap.

The "experts" that shoot their mouths off the most criticizing Canadian French tend to be the ones also who know the least about the history and development of the language—like the fact that French (français royal) was the official unifying language in Canada long before it was in France. There IS another less known term used to refer to the North-American French Language—Francanadien. If you're like me and not terribly interested in maintaining a link with France, you'll want to make that distinction clear. This is the response you may use from now on to the question:

In all fairness, Parisian French generally has a slightly softer sound to it than Quebec French, but that quality also makes it harder to understand. Again, that relationship is not unique to French; in the case of Portuguese, it's just the opposite; the European variation has a harder tone to it while Brazilian Portuguese is very soft and pleasant sounding (the most beautiful language on Earth in my opinion).

Unlike its other Latin siblings, French also has the added burden of being the language of the hoity-toity, the snobs, the aristocrat wannabes… You get the idea. It's cool, chic, and trendy to interject a little French spice into your vocabulary to show your worldly sophistication. Of course, this is extremely annoying to natives, most of whom just roll their eyes. Oh yeah… one more thing… those hoity-toity "experts" with pseudo-Parisian accents? Yeah, they make great targets for your newly acquired language skills in Canadian French. They also make great targets for hockey practice! These morons have done an immeasurable amount of damage with their elitist attitude to the French language and culture across this continent!

My approach when contemplating how to put this whole thing together eventually came down to this. How did I learn the Canadian French language? What were my stumbling blocks? What were my frustrations due to lack of resources? In attempting to read Canadian news on line and my monthly issue of l'Actualité, what vocabulary was I lacking, vocabulary that surfaced over and over again?

Although I had the "jump-start" advantage of having French-speaking grandparents from Québec, they didn't exactly teach me how to conjugate an irregular verb in the subjunctive, I had to learn from a teacher or a book like everyone else. Furthermore, to illustrate the point I'm about to make, in 1977 I went to Brazil as an AFS exchange student and, of course, I had to learn Portuguese, which is a story in itself. Needless to say, there was no jump-start assistance by grandparents involved there—the point being, I'm quite familiar with the uphill struggle to master a language.

Over time it became apparent what I needed to know in order to comfortably consider myself truly fluent. But I wanted more and I wanted it MY way. Why did everything, every dictionary, every resource, every time have to be from France?

Having spent countless hours on line searching for Canadian French educational material, having written to several organizations, Canadian colleges and universities, the Québec government office, the list goes on and on… I found myself more and more frustrated as I hit the dead-end wall over and over again. Hardly known as an activist (a bit of a renegade perhaps, but never an activist), I decided (begrudgingly) that maybe I MYSELF should do something about this issue. In the end, seeing Ben Levine's film Réveil - Waking up French…! pretty much sealed the deal. And voilà, the rest is history as they say.

Again, keep in mind that the approach to learning French using this site is from THIS side of the Atlantic. A vast amount of the vocabulary contained herein, however, would also be used in France, but you are learning it from the Canadian angle. The following scenario will help better illustrate what I'm attempting to say.

Let's say you are discussing with a European Francophone what you had for breakfast during your stay at a couette et café (bed & breakfast) in Québec. MOST of the words you would use would be the same; however, when you utter the term couette et café and the words déjeuner (breakfast), bleuet (blueberry) and perhaps yogourt, your friend from France is going to have to pause and "translate" in his/her head what those words mean within the context they were used. (These words either don't exist in France or they have a different meaning.) Conversely, you would have to do the same. This is perfectly fine. This is what we Anglophones also have to do when we speak to our friends from Britain when they talk about taking the lift up to their flat to have a spot of tea with their mates… You get the idea.

Vocabulary Builder

What's a "Vocabulary Builder"? My definition is "kind of like a dictionary without all the clutter." According to research, you only need to learn between 5,000 to 6,000 words in English to be considered "average" or "normal." A typical college dictionary has anywhere between 50,000 and 70,000 entries. See what I mean? There's a lot of clutter in there you will never use.

Nonetheless, you can't seriously learn any language without forming an intimate relationship with a dictionary. Despite the fact that there are many fine French-English/English-French bilingual dictionaries out there, at the time of this writing, there still is no North-American English/North-American French bilingual dictionary on the market. One of the ways my material differs from a conventional dictionary is you won’t be stumbling over words like “hackneyed.” Somehow I’ve managed to live to 50 without ever hearing or using the word “hackneyed” in English, so why would I need to know it in French? Conventional dictionaries are chocked full of such "clutter." Once you've reached a comfortable conversational level in French, those same dictionaries will still be there if you ever need to know such things, but they're not an ideal starting point for the beginner.

I repeat, unlike a conventional dictionary, I have attempted to provide you with only the building blocks of everyday words you’ll use over and over again to bring your level of fluency up to what is considered "conversational" as quickly as possible. In other words, you won't be discussing physics or describing your colonoscopy in bitter detail once you've memorized every vocabulary word provided on this site, but you should be able to discuss the news, weather and sports… and let's not forget, politics, religion and last, but certainly not least, the purity of the French language both here and overseas.

Only 5,000 words! With an attainable goal to shoot for, now maybe this doesn't seem like such a big deal any more. The pressure is off! Anything you learn beyond this is icing on the cake, but by God! you'll be able to make yourself understood on the streets of Montréal or Les Éboulements!

Anglicisms ♦ Anglicismes

And since we're on the topic of vocabulary, you won't find a lot of "raw Anglicisms" on my site or in my material; I just don't believe in them. By raw, I mean ridiculous words like le week-end, le shopping, or le bowling, used by a few wayward Canadians and heavily used in Europe. You already speak English; you're here to learn Canadian French—good Canadian French! (French Canadians LOVE to quibble about what's "in" and what's not. It's like a national pastime right after hockey!)

What's "in" and what's not? As far as language "purity" goes, both Quebec and France are guilty of having allowed far too many Anglicisms to take hold. The difference is, Quebec is doing something about it and has far less to eradicate than France. Historically, French Canada has had to deal with the "Anglo Invasion" for centuries and is FAR more protective of its language; France is just beginning to wake up. Tell me more about Anglicisms.

Slang / Vulgarities ♦ Argot / Vulgarités

You will not find any slang or street talk on ToutCanadien; however, I have included common vulgarities because you need to be able to recognize these words when you hear them. It's a free continent—whether you use them or not is up to you. There actually are a few books on the market that deal specifically with Canadian French slang. Check the Additional Resources list for details. Non-native speakers just visiting Canada should be very careful about using slang too freely; you run the risk of sounding really dumb or awkward.

Groups, Lists & Rules ♦ Groupes, Listes & Règles

A few points I want to make about "power-learning" from well organized groups of vocabulary (hereafter referred to as lists).

If you break down an entire language into parts of speech, suddenly it no longer seems quite as overwhelming; it may even seem manageable. For one thing, you will quickly realize that the lists for certain parts of speech are fairly limited; consequently, there is only so much to be memorized.

Parts-of-speech groups have aspects about them that are consistent. You start to make some logical conclusions, some educated guesses based on what you already know about the nature of the words in the group. An example, you know that most adverbs are created from the feminine form of an adjective. You guess that actuellement is probably how you would say currently. You are right. Technically you hadn't memorized this adverb, but you knew the adjective actuel and you knew the rule for creating adverbs from adjectives. Bravo! You just avoided having to memorize hundreds and hundreds of words.

It may be in your best interest to familiarize yourself with certain lists first and how those words function because once you've conquered that list, you're done! Other lists are seemingly endless and I refer to the list for nouns and the list for verbs in particular. The lists for nouns and verbs will frequently be updated on this site. (Hey! I can only work so fast!)

The following four vocab lists are so short they are included in the ToutCanadien Grammar Guide and not as separate documents:

Verbs can be your final frontier. You DO need to learn certain key verbs right away; there's just no ifs, ands, or buts about the matter. However! The good news is this; there's this thing called "circumlocution." The reason I feel you can leave the serious study of verbs until last is because with just a handful of key verbs and the adjectives and nouns you've memorized together with all the other vocabulary you've mastered from the other lists, you can usually find a way to skate around ("circumlocute") having to use a verb to express an idea by rewording your thought. WHAT?! I'm serious. Here's an example:

Let's say you want to say, "I can't afford a new car" but you don't know the verb "to afford." You DO know the noun argent (money), and you know the adverb assez (enough), so you restructure your thought and what comes out is "Je n'ai pas assez d'argent pour un nouveau char" (I don't have enough money for a new car). Is it EXACTLY what you meant? No… technically, not exactly, but you get the general idea across and no one has any idea that you didn't know the verb "to afford." (But you will look it up and memorize it as soon as you get home, right?!)

Circumlocution is an essential skill to develop while you continue to build your vocabulary.

Grammar ♦ Grammaire

Oh-oh… the "G" word! The fact of the matter is… you NEED to learn a little grammar in order to learn any language, so drop what you're doing and go get a copy of the ToutCanadien Grammar Guide.

Sister Marlys may not approve of this, but as you can see, her eyes are closed. Throughout everything at ToutCanadien, I've slipped in—here and there—stuff that is technically not accepted as being grammatically correct, but something you'll hear anyway. Watch for the civ symbol (c = colloquial; i = informal; v = vernacular). You need to know this stuff. It's out there; it's real and it's up to you to use it or not. We all choose, consciously or subconsciously, how we want to sound in our native tongue. At ToutCanadien, you get to make that choice; it's up to you.

Grammar doesn't have to be boring. It is attitude, perspective, and delivery that make a difference. Sister Marlys is not going to weigh you down with a lot of heavy boring grammarian jargon.

Tips & Tricks ♦ Trucs & Astuces

The best way to learn any language is exactly the way you learned your native tongue as a kid. You SPOKE before you could read and write. Speaking is the hardest part. Practice speaking! (Be sure to check out the ToutCanadien Pronunciation Guide.) Make mistakes; life goes on. Natives make mistakes all the time. Listen to your friends and coworkers for just five minutes some time. Listen for such things as "I did good," "I seen it," and "If I was…." See what I mean? Bad, bad, bad English! The bottom line is this. There's good and bad American English; there's good and bad European French; there's good and bad Canadian French. And "good" is a moving target, which is always being debated, especially in Québec where sensitivity to language and opinions about language run higher than any other place in this hemisphere.

Something to file away in your memory banks, native speakers only have three things over you: vocabulary, pronunciation and syntax (how words fit together to form a logical and proper-sounding sentence). Most people, however, who learn a second language, tend to be much better and much more aware of spelling, grammar, and punctuation than native speakers.

Theme Song ♦ Chanson Thème

How many times have you heard someone say, "Pardon my French" or "Excuse my French" after having cussed or uttered something rude, lewd or crude? You DO realize where this expression stems from, right? It is nothing more than a lingering veiled insulting abasement towards the French Canadians and their "funny old French" and the fact they could not express themselves in the superior language—English. This attitude and image have been promulgated by the British, the Americans and even the French. YES! Even the French! Well, boys… the gig's up! Fini!

Jean is much more eloquent in addressing this matter than I ever could be, which is why I find his song to be such a perfect compliment to my site. To really appreciate the message, you need to look at the lyrics. I had the good fortune of catching this song of his on Radio Canada Winnipeg the summer of 2009. It so resonated with me, my feelings, my beliefs and my attitude that I quickly contacted Jean to inquire about using his song as my "official" theme song for this site. In return, I hope my site will truly help friends and family of Jean who wish to reclaim their roots. Click on the song title above. This takes you to Jean's site. Once on his site, a pop-up player appears after a moment with the song ready to go. Activate the player. Awesome, n'est-ce pas?! While you're at it, check out Jean's site in depth. You can buy just this song or the entire CD! Ça c'est cool !

Want to sing along? Here are the lyrics and a little info about Jean. Amuse-toi !

ToutCanadien

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	This site is primarily a resource for downloadable reference documents to learn the North-American French language on your own. Long live books and paper! Nonetheless, it still can be used as an on-line reference. It's your choice, the best of both worlds in one convenient spot.
	The individual who appreciates structure, organization, and learning by group association (lists) will get the most out of this site. Association greatly aids in vocab recall!
	All material is designed specifically for English-speaking North Americans desiring to learn North-American French. A little existing knowledge of French is helpful, but not necessary.
	The Trilogy—All three major components of language learning—Pronunciation, Grammar, and Vocabulary—are offered here. Currently the site does not offer actual lessons. Lessons from beginner to advanced will be added in 2013.
	All material is found in the Library.
	You need to be somewhat familiar with the parts of speech and their function. Drawing a blank? No problem. Check out the Parts of Speech document for a quick recap.

Written Word	There is generally very little trouble in either direction. The meaning of unknown vocabulary is usually revealed by context.
Spoken Word	Canadians tend to have an easier time understanding their Euro cousins than the reverse scenario. Of course, avoiding slang makes any communication easier. The moment you open your mouth a French person will know you are Canadian and vice versa. Good enunciation goes a long way!

	Vocabulary—Eliminate the clutter and provide only what an average person would know.
	Presentation—Offer well organized cross-referenced lists of words that are grouped together by association to facilitate memorization and recall.