news / nouvelles & Articles

2012.01.22

2012.01.15

ToutCanadien supports all our French-speaking brothers and sisters throughout North America by boycotting Molson for their outrageous act of treason.

ToutCanadien appuie tous nos frères et sœurs francophones d'Amérique du Nord en boycottant Molson pour cause de leurs actes outrageux de trahison.

Vive la solidarité !

Prenez une Tremblay à sa place !

2012.01.14

Le québécois est-il un dialecte ?  Oui… et non
Is Québécois a dialect?  Yes… and no

Le québécois est-il un dialecte ?  Oui et non, car ça dépend du contexte.  Oui, si vous êtes linguiste.  Autrement…  NON !  Je m'explique :  En linguistique, le mot « dialecte » n'a rien de péjoratif.  Les linguistes distinguent entre un « dialecte » et un « patois », car en linguistique, le mot « dialecte » décrit toute variété (soit nationale, régionale, ou sociale) de n'importe quelle langue, tandis que « patois » décrit une langue isolée, dont les utilisateurs sont peu nombreux.  Grâce à l'isolation de ces patois, et grâce aussi au nombre minuscule de leurs utilisateurs, les « patois » se qualifient, injustement, de langues « inférieures ».

Les linguistes distinguent nettement entre « dialecte » et « patois », mais la distinction ne se fait pas dans d'autres contextes.  Donc, à moins que vous vous trouviez parmi des linguistes, dites tout simplement qu'on y parle français avec un accent particulier.  C'est sûr que bien dans certains contextes, beaucoup de Québécois vont vous dire qu'ils parlent « le québécois », mais aucun d'entre eux ne vous dira qu'il s'agit d'un « dialecte » ou d'un « patois ».

In Linguistics, "dialect" refers to any national, regional, or social variety of a language.  Thus, linguists will say that Americans and Britons speak different "dialects" of English, that Mexicans and Spaniards speak different "dialects" of Spanish, that European Portuguese and Brazilian Portuguese are different "dialects" of Portuguese, and that the French of Metropolitan France and that of Québec are different "dialects" of French.  Non linguists do not generally use the word "dialect" in this neutral sense.  Among most non linguists, "dialect" is synonymous with "patois," a word that implies unwarranted feelings of inferiority among its speakers.  So, while most Québécois will have no objections to hearing their language described as "French with a distinct accent" or even as "Québécois," the word "dialect" is best avoided.  Above all, DO NOT call it a PATOIS, because it isn't one.

2011.12.21

Facebook

We're a little slow in keeping up with technological changes and that would include changes made to Facebook.  Although we've had a presence now as a Facebook "Group" since June 15, 2010, it's time to move on to an "Official Page" for ToutCanadien.  I'll be honest with you, I don't yet understand all the advantages of having an "Official Page," but I'm trusting my Facebook gurus on this one.  So starting 1/1/2012 (or whenever Facebook gets around to deleting it) the old Group for ToutCanadien will disappear, but you can migrate over to the "Official Page" right now. 
Check out the new page here   

2011.12.13

WEB PAGE UPDATED

• The Donations/Dedication page now has PayPal as a quick and convenient way to donate.  Check it out!  And a "gros merci!" to everyone who has already donated! 

2011.12.03

New PosterS

Two new posters make their debut today!  Molière would certainly be less than thrilled if he knew what had become of his native tongue; nonetheless, he would likely set up camp in today's French-speaking Canada as opposed to The Hexagon.  Somehow… I think he'd approve of these two new creations. 

A Picture Speaks a Thousand Words and Langue Indépendante

ENJOY!

2011.11.13

2011.10.28

This addition, however, has kind of caused a small chain reaction on the site resulting in a little restructuring.

You will notice the "Fun Stuff" page has disappeared. That information is now found on the "Other Resources" page. Consequently, the "Other Resources" page got yet another facelift and is now easier to navigate.

The page previously named "Important" is now called "Donations/Dedication"; otherwise the rest of the navigation bar remains the same.

2011.10.05

New Poster

The response to the "Franglais" poster—first posted almost a month ago—has been remarkable.  Thank you all for the positive feedback! 

I did however have a few comments that it may be a little too graphic for some classrooms.  Understood.  Simple solution…  Voilà!  Here's a "softer" version with a slightly different angle for the more delicate enthusiasts of ToutCanadien.

Franglais Poster (version 2)
 

2011.10.03

ToutCanadien's  Official  Stance  on  Anglicisms
 

2011.09.10

WEB PAGE UPDATED

• The Other Resources page has several new additions. 

2011.09.06

New Poster

The war against raw Anglicisms continues, not Anglicisms altogether; there's some wiggle room, as they say.  But raw Anglicisms are a corruption, a cancer to the language—any language. 

Here's a special little POSTER created by ToutCanadien that Radio Canada, in particular, may want to print out (several copies) and provide to their announcers as a reminder that they are serving the CANADIAN public and not the Metropolitan French.

Show your French-speaking pride by having a copy printed for yourself to hang in your classroom or dorm room.  11x17 paper is also referred to as ledger size. 

It's just a small poster as posters go, but it makes a big statement.  Envoye !  (Have at it!)

2011.08.14

WEB PAGES UPDATED

• The Resources page has been reworked into two sections.  You might say it separates the "must-know" from the "nice-to-know" resources.  The name of the page has also been changed to Other Resources to avoid confusion between external additional resources and resources found directly on ToutCanadien.

• In addition, a new downloadable article has been added called, "New England & Canada: Understanding the Language, Cultural, and Historical Connections" by Eileen M. Angelini, Ph.D.  Interested in hosting a conference on this subject?  Contact Dr. Angelini directly via the information provided in her paper.

• The Conventions page has been replaced with Find a Tutor.  The information on the conventions used at ToutCanadien have been moved to the Library page.

• The Find a Tutor page is brand new!
  If you offer tutoring services in CANADIAN FRENCH and would like to be listed here as part of the network, please contact Jacques.  With more and more people wanting and needing to learn Canadian French for their job, especially in the New England area and in particular now Burlington, Vermont, as well as places like Plattsburgh, New York, it has become apparent that a directory of Canadian French tutors would be a very worthwhile resource for this site to offer to its readers.

2011.06.05

Check out the new section at the bottom of the "Resources" page called:

Aux Petites Vues… / At The Movies…

ToutCanadien wishes to formally thank Eileen Angelini of Canisius College for providing the site with this information.

2011.05.23

The CONTRIBUTORS section on the IMPORTANT page has been updated.
Click on the "Important" link above.

2011.04.10

MILESTONE - ToutCanadien hits the 11,000 entries mark with the addition of this new document!

NEW DOCUMENT

• Nouns - Clothing
  Clothes, parts of clothes, types of fabric and material, types of shoes, basically anything you wear except jewelry is included in this 30-page document.

2011.04.01

BON ANNIVERSAIRE !

Aujourd'hui c'est l'anniversaire d'un an de ToutCanadien.
Today is the one-year anniversary of ToutCanadien.

Le contenu du site a changé considérablement au cours de l'année passée et je prévois la même chose pour la prochaine année fiscale.  Petit à petit, on y arrive !
The content of the site has changed substantially over the past year and I foresee the same thing for the next fiscal year.  Little by little, we're getting there!

ToutCanadien's database now boasts close to 30,000 entries, with over 10,500 of them already published.

So what IS on the drawing board for Fiscal Year 2011?

• Five more significant vocabulary lists:

• Clothing     (coming soon)

• Food     (very large comprehensive list)

• The Home     (expected to be very large also)

• The Office

• The School

• More "Expressions Québécoises"
• An updated Grammar Guide

A special Thank-you/Merci to all the friends, family, and fans who have made this past year a great first year.

En avant !

2011.02.20

WEB PAGE UPDATED

• The Resources page was given a minor face lift and has been updated to reflect a recent discovery. 

http://www.noslangues-ourlanguages.gc.ca/index-fra.php

Portail Linguistique du Canada

The Federal Government of Canada's equivalent of the Office Québécois de la Langue Française (OQLF)  You’ll note that it references the OQLF quite often.

2011.02.13

CORRECTION!

• Grammar Guide
  This is a significant oversight, so please take note of the following.  The correction is found under the Particles section.  Here's what has been added: 

Particle that indicates a question. It is attached to the conjugated verb.  This construction is used in informal language and is very common in Canada. Ex: Have they eaten?   ·       Can be used with every personal pronoun except vous. ·       *In Acadia, -ti is used instead of -tu.

-tu*   Ex: Ils ont-tu mangé ?

2011.02.02

ToutCanadien in a nutshell!

• Well… in a manner of speaking.  A link has been added near the top of the Home Page to provide you with a copy of all the text on the ToutCanadien web site. 
  FAST!
  CONVENIENT!
  …and prints nice every time!  No more messing around with settings in your browser for web-page printing. 
  
  This .pdf file also is quick and easy to e-mail to a friend who may be interested in this site.

2011.01.30

NEW WEB PAGES!

• So how is THIS web site any different from the other 1,759 sites that teach French?
  Also accessible from the home page.

• Examples, Examples & More Examples!
  A "drill-down" page of the above.

2011.01.17

NEW DOCUMENT

• Nouns - Quantity
  Quantities, Containers, Measurements, Groupings….  How we talk "quantitatively"!
  Often these words in both languages are followed by the word “of.”

2011.01.16

NEW DOCUMENT

• Nouns - Religion
  Common words and terms of religion and philosophy.

NEW WEB PAGE!

• What's the difference?
  What ARE the differences between Canadian and European French?  Find out here.

2010.12.19

The Document Library has a slightly different look in the "III  VOCABULARY" section.  Primary lists and secondary lists are now grouped together.  The great categorization of nouns has begun!  The single document called "Nouns" has been removed and henceforth a noun will appear in either the document called "Nouns - Uncategorized" or in one or more of the many lists of nouns by category that will continue to be posted.

Several NEW DOCUMENTS!  (as always, all found in the Library)

• Nouns - Uncategorized

• Nouns - Fauna
  Common animals of all types: amphibians, birds, insects, mammals, reptiles.

• Nouns - People
  People designations, occupations, titles!  Words from "air-traffic controller" to "zombie."

• Nouns - Places
  Not just places, but buildings as well.  Places and buildings are often very intertwined.

• Nouns - Body
  Body parts and areas.  Yes!  ALL body parts are listed!  (The common everyday to slang-type expressions for certain parts will appear in the second generation of this document.)

• Nouns - Body-related
  Because sometimes there’s a fine line between classifying something as a “body part” versus something “body-related,” you’ll notice that several terms appear on both of these new lists.

2010.12.12

NEW DOCUMENT

• Nouns - Fauna
  Common animals of all types: amphibians, birds, insects, mammals, reptiles.

2010.12.11

NEW DOCUMENT

• Nouns - Transportation

2010.12.09

TWO NEW DOCUMENTS

• Nouns - Water
  anse, baie, barbotière, canal, cascades, chandelle , chenail, chutes, crique, douve(s), écluse, étang, flaque d’eau, fleuve, glacier, golfe, goutte, gouttelette, inondation, lac, lame , Manche , marais, mare, marécage, marée, mer, océan, ondulation, puits, rapides, raz-de-marée, ride, rigolet, rivage, rive, rivière, ruisseau, ruisselet, sault, savane, vague…

• Nouns - Land
  banc, barre de sable, bassin, butte, canyon, cap, caverne, chaîne de montagne, champ, colline, continent, côte, coulée, cratère, cultures, désert, digue, dune, dune de sable, éboulement, écorre, érosion, falaise, fosse, fossé, île, îlot, mine, montagne, ornière, péninsule, pente, plage, plaine, prairie, pré, presqu’île, promontoire, ravin, rivage, rive, talus, terre, toundra, tranchée, trou, tunnel, vallée, volcan…

2010.12.07

NEW DOCUMENT

• Nouns - Sky
  Anything you see in the sky or that falls from the sky or is somehow related to either is what this document is all about.  Whether you’re a “Weather Geek” or not, weather is an important part of each of our daily lives and you have to be able to talk about it.  This document will provide you with all the basics and more.  If you really ARE a weather aficionado, here’s a Canadian web site that may interest you for those more advanced terms:

  http://www.weatheroffice.gc.ca/mainmenu/faq_e.html

2010.12.06

NEW DOCUMENT

• OGDEN (all)     Several people have requested a summary of all of the Ogden vocabulary in one single document.  This document, however, actually lists all that PLUS the most-used modern-day vocabulary determined by computer analysis.

2010.12.05

NEW DOCUMENT

• Nouns - Money deals with not only currency, but anything that has to do with money somehow in our lives: banking, insurance, shopping… bankruptcy!  There is very valuable terminology in this document if you are planning on traveling to Quebec soon and want to show the natives you did your homework!

2010.11.30

• "Meta Tags" added to optimize site discovery.

2010.11.22

NEW WEB PAGE!

• Debut of Word of the Week.

2010.09.19

NEW DOCUMENT

• InfoSheet - Aspirate H (All Words) is now available.

2010.09.15

NEW DOCUMENT

• Nouns - Family is the first of many noun vocabulary lists by category to come.

2010.08.14

NEW DOCUMENT

• I've posted a new document called "How To - Expand Your Image" in the DOCUMENT LIBRARY under the "Extras" → "How-To" heading.  This is another vocabulary-expansion tool that will continue to grow.  It provides you with suggestions for alternative responses to the usual overly-wrought, unimaginative, textbook-learned words and phrases.  Watch for notices of future updates to this document here on the NEWS page.

2010.08.01

Grammar Guide Update

• The pagination of this document has been changed.  Print by section now—faster, less waste!  Due to this change, it is not unusual to find a blank page before the start of the new section.

• Section on Subject Pronouns greatly expanded.

2010.07.11

Toutcanadien and Updates

How do I know when there's been an update on this site and/or to the material contained herein?

 I only have two suggestions at the moment: 

1. Create yourself a Google Alert using this text:  ToutCanadien  (I cannot vouch for Google's accuracy; that is, I'm not exactly sure how their alerts work.)

2. Send ToutCanadien a message that you'd like to be put on an update list.  (There's a capacity limit, so don't wait too long.)

2010.06.19

Toutcanadien on Facebook

• Check out the new ToutCanadien Facebook group.  Its main purpose is to facilitate communication en masse regarding changes, additions and [GASP!] corrections/typos to ToutCanadien vocabulary lists.  For the time being, access is by "application only."  No nice people will be turned away!

2010.06.15

• New site e-mail address (Site and footer of all documents have been updated with new address.)

• Document Update:  InfoSheet - Vandertramp

• Pronunciation Guide Update (A new section at the end has been added.)

2010.04.01

Today—April 1st, 2010—is the debut of ToutCanadien after 10 long years of development, developed on an extremely annoying slow laptop and a desktop model that decided to die the morning of 3/31/2010.  A little cussing, a few prayers, a little merlot and voilà!  Tout est bien qui finit bien!

ToutCanadien is opening its doors (or I should really say, windows) today with the following counts on record: