Quebec City, Canada
- Thread starter Madman
- Start date
Miamigo259
Registered
Spent a few days in Quebec City 24 years ago but not been there since. "Vieux Quebec", the old town, within the city walls is very nice and quite different to anything else you will find in North America.
Seem to remember that they don't like speaking English there..........!
Seem to remember that they don't like speaking English there..........!
royale
G scale and driving my Royale Sabre kit car
Tend to agree with Miamigo - only met one friendly and helpful French/Canadian there. Most of them don' t seem want to speak English to you at all even though most of them can. However, my experience was quite a few years ago so things might have changed. On the other hand, the Old Town is very interesting.
Miamigo259
Registered
Despite Canada having the (legal) status of a bilingual Country, it was obvious that a number of people, who presumably learnt some English at school, had no cause to use it after leaving school as Quebec prioritises the French language.
Some we spoke to appeared, genuinely, to have no knowledge of English, so they ended up with my best O level French (which I did actually pass about 37 years ago....). Even that was a problem, as the pronunciation seems to have developed differently to "normal" European French in some cases.
It's very noticeable, if you drive along Route 401 from Toronto to Montreal (which I did in 2007) that all the bilingual road signs mysteriously vanish once you cross over the provincial border from Ontario into Quebec!
Some we spoke to appeared, genuinely, to have no knowledge of English, so they ended up with my best O level French (which I did actually pass about 37 years ago....). Even that was a problem, as the pronunciation seems to have developed differently to "normal" European French in some cases.
It's very noticeable, if you drive along Route 401 from Toronto to Montreal (which I did in 2007) that all the bilingual road signs mysteriously vanish once you cross over the provincial border from Ontario into Quebec!
royale
G scale and driving my Royale Sabre kit car
Is it a bit of the same old story, try a bit of your 'French', however awful, on them, and then they do suddenly speak English? Seems to work in every other country.
Probably in the end, just so they can understand you better.
I Lived in Canada for twelve years and tried that. The main problem seemed to be that they didn't seem to like the English and that dates all the way back to the French/British wars of the 1700's - Generals Wolfe and Montcalm and all that.
Madman
Registered
I have visited two European countries that do no have English as their primary language. They would be Italy and France. In both countries, as long as I made an attempt at their language, I was treated with respect. I did much better in Italy as I had been trying to learn the language well before the trip. French, on the other hand was limited to a few words.
The Italians were more than eager to help in any case, with things like directions, but in Paris, if I didn't get it the first time, I was SOL.
The Italians were more than eager to help in any case, with things like directions, but in Paris, if I didn't get it the first time, I was SOL.
David1226
Registered
Parisians are famous for their snooty unfriendly attitude. It has been my experience that even the rest of the French population don't like Parisians.
My wife and I were once in a queue for tickets for a river boat trip in southern Brittany. In front of us was a Scotsman with a realy thick Scottish accent. My wife and I could hardly understood a word he said. The young French girl selling the tickets understood every word he said without batting an eyelid. Unless of course she had Dr Who's universal translator under the counter.
David