Idéologie

One of my co-workers is a French speaker from New Brunswick, Canada and said that French Canadians are able to understand Parisian French but, oftentimes; people in France have difficulty understanding the dialect spoken in Quebec. There are a lot of different slang terms and differences. For example, in Parisian French, les gosses= kids but in Quebecois, it is slang for, uh, let's say the family jewels. Another is ton ton, which means uncle in Parisian but in Quebecois means nipple or tit. The need for subtitles comes from the fact that in the past the French Canadian film industry did not export very many productions across the pond. With English language productions, American movies, TV shows and musichave been very prominent in English speaking countries and others as well. This is very much like an average American not understanding a Scotsman speaking with a broad Glaswegian accent. The movie, "Sweet Sixteen" was released with subtitles although the characters were speaking Scots-English. However, with critically acclaimed films like "Les Invasions Barbares" and "Le Grand Seduction," this has changed in France and posters on message boards seem charmed by the distinctiveness of the Quebecois accent and dialect. Of course, news announcers and reporters speak in a very standard form of the language like English speakers. With a more open cultural exchange between the 2 French speaking countries, the French will become more familiar with Quebecois French.