Personally, I’ve never had any trouble undertanding or being understood by European francophones from France, Belgium or Switzerland. Sure, there are differences but they are no greater than those between British and American English. The main difference is that Brits spend a far, far greater proportion of their leisure time watching Jerry Springer and CSI than people in France devote to stuff from Quebec. So the British are more familiar with American English.

Although, as has been pointed out Quebec artists have constantly increasing exposure in France, and I am often surprised at some of the folky “slangy” stuff from here that is catching on over there these days. I always ask myself: “are they really getting what they’re saying?”

Finally, there is an ongoing feud between Quebec and France over dubbing of Hollywood movies. Both places would like to see most movies dubbed on their turf. The French argue that movies dubbed in Quebec are incomprehensible to French audiences because of the accent. But the reality is that Quebec actors who do dubs park their accents at the door and use a totally neutral international French accent. It’s just a bogus argument levelled against the Quebec dubbing industry when everyone know it’s really all about money.

Then later I saw athing on TV about Haïtian writer living way out in a fishing village in Québec’s Côte-Nord. I could understand him fine. I couldn’t understand his neighbors.

The British have had to accept long ago that most English-speakers lived off the island. Same for Spaniards and Portuguese. The French are still very much in denial, even though they count for only 60 million of the 265 French-speakers worldwide.

Québec, unlike Latin America or English North America, is only 6 million people. Easy to ignore.

People from France who come to Québec usually sort out the accent difference within weeks. Attitude has changed in France as well. A lot of Québec artist have made it big over there and our accent is not strange to them as as it used to be.

I speak English, French and Spanish and I can assure you Québécois is not any more different from France French than American to British or Mexican to Castellano.

It is French chauvinism. They wouldn’t be French without it. People in Québec are not usually offended by that attitude, we just ignore it like we ignore the Académie Française and Johnny Hallyday.

AFG, I have a question for you. Last night, not for the first time, I found myself in discussion with a French person (i.e. from France) on the topic of Quebec, its language and politics. And not for the first time, I had to listen politely as someone from the Metropole proclaimed that they could scarcely understand Quebec French. (Picture a smug curl of the lips, a Gallic shrug, a dismissive wave of a Galoises…)

I’m pretty sure this is simple, if unconscious, cultural chauvanism on the part of the notoriously sniffy French– if an “aspiring” speaker of French like me can understand both varieties, why not a native speaker? I usually assume it’s a sign that people in France are not used to people from elsewhere speaking their language, as most native English speakers are.

But one of the delights of the more rabid anglophone Quebec-haters is declaring Quebec French to be “substandard”– and indeed, I suspect there are some Quebecois who feel the same, in the same way that, say, Americans fawn over British accents.

So what’s the story, AFG? Can the French understand you? Can you understand them? What is the France-Quebec linguistic dynamic, and how is it experienced by native speakers on either side?

Sorry this is off-topic for the post, but as you can tell, these snooty Eurofrenchies get under my separatist skin…

The word ‘Jew’ takes a capital.