Christina,

As mentioned earlier, I wear the Canadian flag to let people know I'm not American. I don't plaster my luggage with large flags or wear clothing emblazoned with the maple leaf (I think that's tacky and others don't need to be "hit over the head" with my nationality). Just a small lapel pin so that that people I am talking with directly might notice it and not make asssumptions about my nationality. I have gotten very tired of saying - "No, I'm Canadian, not American".

My friend thinks it's silly because I'm advertising that I'm a tourist. As previously discussed, one really can't hide that and I have no problems with others knowing it.

I have also found that many people are interested in the fact that I'm Canadian. I'm not sure why, but it may be because there are fewer of us and they don't meet as many (as compared to people from other countries, including the USA).

As for people of other nationalities identifying themselves, I have seen flags from many different countries on jackets, bags etc. in Calgary (especially during Stampede week) and in Banff (major international tourist trap). In fact, people here put national flags on their car bumpers to identify where they (or their grandparents or great-grandparents etc.) immigrated from!

Oh, I just remembered a story about NOT being mistaken for an American and people recognizing accents.

We were staying in a B&B in Orkney and sitting in the lounge with another couple who were up from London (originally from Glasgow). The wife said something (can't recall exactly what) that implied she assumed we were American (as had happened many times already on the trip), so I immediately said "We're Canadian, not American". The husband said he knew that because of our accents.

Now, I normally can tell when someone is from Quebec, the East Coast (Canada), the southern USA and, sometimes, can even distinguish a Boston or New Jersey accent, but I normally can't tell a Canadian accent from an American one. I was totally impressed that this gentleman could. He must have that "ear" that has been discussed earlier.

...but no matter how hard I try, my son's Baltimore Orioles cap always gives us away. I might as well just give up and wear the white shoes.

The Pagnol films were in French, with a heavy midi accent.

Du peng, du veng, du bourseng.

I can tell Canadians from Americans, "ou" as in "out and about" sounds Scotch. Also they don't flatten t's into d's to the extent that Americans do. Water is not pronounced wadder.

Quebecois is very different from modern French, and with the accent on top, hard to understand.

I have heard Quebecois and French using English to communicate.

Not sure why but my husband and I are always mistaken for English or Australians. We were both born and raised in Texas but don't have the twang. We try to be soft spoken and unassuming. Italians always guess wrong with us.

As a former french canadian, (i'm a naturalized american) I guess I'm probably allowed to chime in...

There is NO single French Canadian accent..."some" of the older generation, in their 60's and above can have a very strong accent that could be classified as 'blue collar'. The same age group of more educated wouldn't have the same accent. Also, depending on which part of the province, the accent might defer.

Most of the younger generation may have an accent but anyone in France who is not an idiot would definitely understand them very easily!!!

When I was in Paris 2 years ago, I spoke to everyone in French, some people did say, Oh, you're our little Canadian cousin! NO ONE didn't understand me and keep in mind that I haven't spoken French on a daily regular basis since 1968. I was able to have lengthy conversation with EVERYONE and I understood EVERYONE and EVERYONE, I will repeat, understood me.

Is there a difference? Yes! But is there a difference between the way Parisians and people from Marseilles speak, yes! Does that mean that they DON'T speak French? Is there a difference between a californian and someone from Louisiana, very likely...but I think that we are speaking the same language.

Lastly, many of my relatives who still live in Quebec have gone to France, and NONE of them have had problems being understood or understanding people all over France.

As far >>The extreme example is joual, both as a dialect and in the word itself which is the way the Québécois dialect pronounces cheval<< ONLY an uneducated person would pronouce 'cheval' that way.

Yes, it is something I get touchy about because so many people speak on the subject who have no real knowledge of the situation and it's become almost like an old wives' tale.

OK, I finished ranting now.

I'll add to what lyb said...

I can't ever remember hearing about a Quebec french speaker not being understood in paris and vice versa. There are cultural differences (words that each culture would not be familiar with), but no blank-faced people looking at each other.

Joual, essentially Quebec slang, would probably be hard to understand by many french speakers. Slang words, letters dropped from words, sentences where words "run together", english words thown in...really tough to follow if you are not raised it.

People sometime joke that they learn french in school (outside of Quebec), but when they go to Quebec it's a different french. Someone who speak joual would understand completely a "regular" french speaker from Canada, but the opposite would not be so.

Like english, there are many variations on the french language, both between and within countries.

I speak both french and joual french.

lyb

Touchy aren't we?

Who said anything about Paris?

Who said they couldn't understand each other in French?

Said conversation was between a Quebecois, a St Barth (French, with a touch of Caribbean spice)and a Lyonais, all of whom speak flawless English.

Evidently they chose to use English rather than decode each others' unfamiliar dialects, which I have no doubt that they were all capable of doing.

On est bon tonton?

An educated French-Canadian will probably be understood in Paris. But if he or she was raised outside the large cities and did not go past high school or less (depending on the era), chances are that the French would have difficulties understand him or her. I used the word <i>joual</i> as the extreme example, and was not claming that all Canadians spoke the dialect or were not able to switch it off. I recall hearing years ago French-Canadian radio: international news was absolutely comprehensible, but when it was sports talk radio, I was completely lost, and I suspect that most Frenchmen would be too. In the evenings, I used to be able to pick up a Montr&eacute;al AM station in Chicago (it somehow bounced off the atmosphere, but only in the winter), named <i> Le cabaret du soir qui penche</i>(?), and its announcer was somewhere between the international news announcer and the sports readio personality.

Waring,

You're absolutely right, it's a very touchy subject for me...but I'm not going to sue you or anything. -

But imagine hearing all of your life from the moment that you are little that French Canadian isn't French... of course, we always thought...funny, we can understand them (more than 50% of the movies we had were from France, as well as our singers) but they can't understand us? who's the smartest here?!

As a result I have to say that I had no interest in going to Paris/France for a long time...when I did go, I was pleasantly surprised at how nice everyone was and not condescending at all like so many of the French or Belgians who had moved to the province of Quebec.

Ahh...those childhood scars!

Michael,
**An educated French-Canadian will probably be understood in Paris**

PROBABLY? ok, believe whatever you want!!

lyb

I have a Belgian/Quebecois friend who grew up in Quebec and had every ounce of Quebecois beaten out of him by the Belgian side of the family. Snobbery.

I know it is French, but for me took a bit of getting used to.

In the French Caribbean, most US DVDs are dubbed in Quebec. The Simpsons in Quebecois? I could follow it for ten minutes then would have to retire to darkened room for an hour.

I agree, an educated Quebecois will be understood everywhere, Homer....I have my doubts.

I had to laugh when we were in Paris last month, and they were showing a French-Canadian TV show <b>with French subtitles!</b> Any Canadian slang was translated into &quot;French from France&quot; for the subtitles.

marcy, how might they cope with &quot;chien chaud?&quot;

I saw the French Canadian TV shows with subtitles as well..it made me laugh.

See...I'm not always that touchy on this subject..

I have never been prouder to be an American (USA).

I just returned from Japan where I was honored by the Beppu (Kyushu) City Hall. I was the only American soldier ever to return to the former regimental base when it was stationed in Beppu.

A Colonel and a Lieutenant in the Japanese Army (Japanese Self Defense Force, it is called) escorted me and a contingent from the Beppu Mayor's staff, to the most beautiful city park I have ever seen (think one big Japanese garden!)...covering what had been my regimental base 60 years ago. One of the surviving trees was a little pine that our occupying force used to decorate for Christmas..it is now a 60-foot pine named &quot;The Chickamauga Tree&quot; in honor of my 19th infantry &quot;Rock of Chickamauga&quot; regiment...with a beautiful plaque In Japanese and English
&quot;thanking my regiment for their kindness toward the people of Beppu.&quot;

The Colonel and the Lieutenant saluted me (once a Pfc.!!)after the plaque was translated..and one woman (Director of International Affairs) told me that her grandfather always told stories of the acts of goodness displayed by the Americans who constantly handed out items of food and other necessities for the starving, poverty stricken populace, and treated them not as former enemies, but as human beings.
I was choked up for days after this.

There just as easily could have been ugly animosities back then ..but there never were! Not one incident!

Yes, I'm damn proud to be an American, both overseas and at home.

Stu T.

lyb,

There was a very funny scene in <i>Jesus of Montreal</i> (I do not recall if the French-Canadian title was the same) where the group is auditing to perform the Passion. The actors, all French-Canadians, are offering different language levels, from <i>joual</i> to the Com&eacute;die fran&ccedil;aise.

If I use the word <i>probable</i> it is because I have no direct experience with educated Canadians in France. I assert absolutely only what I have experienced. Je ne comprends pas pourquoi la moutarde vous monte au nez.

Uhoh, the mustard is coming out
Frappons la rue!

<i>Frappons la rue</i>? Is that a form of franglais.

Mustard up my nose?

That's an expression I've never heard -- and don't blame my french canadian background...remember I've been gone for MANY years -- there are many different expressions that are foreign to me... but I gather it's similar to &quot;don't get your panties up in wad&quot;

It's the one thing I am sensitive about -- like I said earlier...&quot;childhood scars&quot;