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[–] 80 points 6 days ago (5 children)

Stop signs in France say “STOP” but in Quebec they say “ARRÊT”

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  • [–] 12 points 6 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago) (4 children)

    I think it has spilled into the rest of Canada too. I just spent a week in Alberta and every little thing that said "stop" also said "arrêt". But the only obvious French speakers I encountered were either tourists or government officials being intentionally accommodating.

    On a more serious note I think Canadian bilingualism might exaggerate this effect. Every sign and product package is printed in both languages so in a way or makes sense to spell things out in full English and full French. i.e. It would be kinda weird to print English alongside some kind of nonstandard Franglish.

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  • [–] 4 points 5 days ago (1 child)

    In Eastern Ontario you'll see these signs along the highway that spell some safety message. They'll have sometimes 2 or 3 in a row to fully tell you the thing in english. Then you'll get the same signs again explaining it in french.

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  • [–] 1 point 4 days ago (1 child)

    I kind of liked how they handle it in Ottawa with the highway signs having the English and French above and below street names on highways, wherever it made sense. I didn’t remember seeing that in Toronto on that trip, but I was in Toronto at the start of this week and noticed a lot of signs like that, at least on the 400 highways. I found that a little surprising given Toronto’s distance from Quebec, but I guess with the sheer population size of Toronto and its role as a transportation hub it makes sense.

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    [–] 23 points 5 days ago (3 children)

    That's very interesting but eastern Germany appearing on maps again worries me.

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    [–] 62 points 6 days ago (3 children)

    Common sense:
    Surely no one could be more up their own ass about being French than the French.

    Quebec, for some reason:
    Bonjour.jpg

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    [–] 31 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) (21 children)

    Okay, (funny) story time.

    I'm French and live in France. Many years ago I met a girl from Quebec (Chicoutimi), and in our discussion she told me that when she arrived in France, her first night the heating was off in her flat and it was very cold. She tried to sleep in what she referred to as her "slip" (French for panties), but even though it was a Canadian slip that was very warm that she used in her cabin in Northern Canada, she was too cold to sleep.

    After a good 5 minutes of thinking "that story doesn't make sense, if she's hitting on me it's too obvious and weird", she saw my confusion and asked me if I knew what she meant by "slip" (panties in French).

    It turns out she was referring to her sleep, short for sleeping bag in English. In French we use the French word "sac de couchage". The pronunciations are identical.

    So both French and Québécois has a lot of borrowed word, just not the same ones.

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  • [–] 6 points 5 days ago* (2 children)

    Je suis du sud du Québec et je l'aurais pas compris. J'ai jamais entendu sleep de ma vie pour désigner un sac de couchage.

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  • [–] 5 points 5 days ago (1 child)

    Je suis du sud du Québec et j'ai toujours entendu ça... C'est pas juste au Saguenay, en tout cas.

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  • [–] 4 points 5 days ago (1 child)

    J'ai entendu "sleeping" très souvent, mais pas juste "sleep". J'aurais été confus moi aussi.

    Le monde est bizarre. Comme ceux qui disent coton ouaté pour désigner un kangourou. /s

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    [–] 45 points 6 days ago (5 children)

    I think we should translate all the fast food place names to the local language :3 this will help nobody or serve any purpose

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    [–] 38 points 6 days ago (18 children)

    It's funny from afar, but not fun to be in. They have what essentially amounts to a language police that enforces absurd and IMO human rights infringing laws. They regularly land in the news for things like threatening to fine a restaurant for using the word "pasta" on their menus.

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    [–] 10 points 5 days ago

    I hear you québécois in the comments, you have French words we dont have and I do think it's great. And when I watched your TV it seemed to be mostly French.

    But when I listen to podcasts it's English words in every sentence.

    Same is happening I France now, but we suck at English so it doesn't sound good. "Cette chanson est un ban-guhrr"

    Also everybody started using "du coup" 10 years ago. Ainsi, donc, apres quoi, puis, car, puisque, etc... - > du coup

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  • [–] 26 points 6 days ago (5 children)

    Also, they dub The Simpsons into French separately in France and Canada, and while the European French dub is content to have Homer crave «les donuts», the Québécois dub gives no quarter to creeping Anglo-Americanisation, replacing them with a French pastry

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    [–] 17 points 6 days ago (1 child)

    And it is fin de semaine and not 'weekend', too.

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  • [–] 9 points 6 days ago* (9 children)

    Joyeux festin, not "happy meal".
    Stationnement, not "parking".
    Course à pied, not "du footing".
    Magasinage, not "shopping".
    Téléphone intelligent, not "smartphone".

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  • [–] 11 points 6 days ago (1 child)

    Duolingo only has Brazilian Portuguese

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  • [–] 11 points 6 days ago (5 children)

    Is KFC called that in France? It’s specifically called KFC in the states and not ‘Kentucky Fried Chicken’ because the chicken is not actually from Kentucky.

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    [–] 4 points 5 days ago

    The most realistic possible future of the French language can be seen in shows like Star Trek and Futurama.

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  • [–] 8 points 6 days ago (2 children)

    Fun fact did you know that most French speakers are not French themselves?

    The average French speaker is from one of France's old African colonies.

    Imagine losing your national identity to the people you oppressed and they don't care about having it.

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