Accent prejudice

[Torpar]

1 hour ago, senorsoupe said:

It also really depends, I grew up in a part of Quebec (the Eastern Townships east of Montreal) where the French accent isn't too bad but people from the more rural areas such as the Lac St-Jean area (pronounced Lac St-Hean) it's very difficult.  East Montreal is the cockney of Quebecois also, very annoying to understand.  The Gatineau/Outouais accent which I hear most is fine, the Brighton/South coast accent of the Quebecois world.  Here is a handy guide of the QUebecois accents for an English comparison

East Montreal = Cockney

Eastern Townships = Yorkshire

Quebec City = Berkshire(think fake posh)

Lac St Jean = Geordie

Beauce = Scouse

Gaspesie = Glaswegian

Outouais = South Coast

That is interesting, to me as an anglophone they all sound similar but I intend to spend the morning Googling them! Just watched a video from Gaspesie, it's harsh. The Gatineau one I can understand, Claude Giroux (born in a Franco-Ontarian town, moved to Orleans in his youth) has a fairly nice accent, any place that has a team in Ligue Nord-Americaine de Hockey seem to have awful accent with the hard r. Tabarrrrnak. 

1 minute ago, Highland Capital said:

I've had French people tell me when they speak to Quebecois they find their language quite bizarre.  

Also, I know over here we mostly see Canada as an English speaking country - it's strange for me hearing the Prime Minister of Canada speaking English and it clearly not being his first language.

My boss (raised in a Quebecois family) told me her and a friend from Belgium just speak English to each other as it's easier. 

After 6 years I've got used to a lot of things being bilingual and learned some interesting words, including the French for grated cheese

[senorsoupe]

3 minutes ago, Torpar said:

That is interesting, to me as an anglophone they all sound similar but I intend to spend the morning Googling them! Just watched a video from Gaspesie, it's harsh. The Gatineau one I can understand, Claude Giroux (born in a Franco-Ontarian town, moved to Orleans in his youth) has a fairly nice accent, any place that has a team in Ligue Nord-Americaine de Hockey seem to have awful accent with the hard r. Tabarrrrnak. 

My boss (raised in a Quebecois family) told me her and a friend from Belgium just speak English to each other as it's easier. 

After 6 years I've got used to a lot of things being bilingual and learned some interesting words, including the French for grated cheese

For the East end Montreal look on youtube for a sitcom called "Les Bougons" , it was a show about a trashy family of petty criminals

Another surefire sign of a rural Quebecois accent is the pronunciation of the simple "oui".  If it sounds more like "ouain" then you know they are from a LNAH team area

Edited May 21, 2020 by senorsoupe

[topcat(The most tip top)]

When I was doing classes at the French institute the usual format was to watch a video in French, watch it again and then attempt to discuss it in French

My classmates and I thought we were progressing quite well and then we got a video about Farmers in Quebec and suddenly our skills seemed very limited

Sénégalais French was simple by comparison

[senorsoupe]

Weirdly enough when I was travelling in France as a young man and busted out my Quebcois accent a lot of the girls found it charming

[Torpar]

16 minutes ago, senorsoupe said:

For the East end Montreal look on youtube for a sitcom called "Les Bougons" , it was a show about a trashy family of petty criminals

Another surefire sign of a rural Quebecois accent is the pronunciation of the simple "oui".  If it sounds more like "ouain" then you know they are from a LNAH team area

I'll give it a watch sometime, before I moved to Canada I used to watch Les Boys on TV5 the French channel from France on Sky and they had subtitles. I used started watching Serie Noire on Netflix, not sure what kind of accent the main characters have but I know it's based in Montreal

[Highland Capital]

2 hours ago, senorsoupe said:

People outside of Canada often forget that close to 25% of our population speak French as a first language

Definitely.  I think most people assume the French speakers are also perfectly fluent in English as well.  I was watching a documentary about the 1995 Quebec referendum a few weeks ago and they said that Jean Chretien, when he was first elected as an MP, didn't know any English at all.

[senorsoupe]

25 minutes ago, Highland Capital said:

Definitely.  I think most people assume the French speakers are also perfectly fluent in English as well.  I was watching a documentary about the 1995 Quebec referendum a few weeks ago and they said that Jean Chretien, when he was first elected as an MP, didn't know any English at all.

That's a lot less common these days but yeah there is still a sizeable population of people who are unilingual francophone, mostly rural and older folks.  

[weirdcal]

I think It greatly depends which gender is talking.

I spent some time working in South Wales and the Cork area of Ireland and I find these accents quite sexy in a woman whereas the men sound like comedy characters.

Conversely I find really broad scouse, Weegie and Belfast are bearable in men but come across fucking awful in women

Cork accents? Seriously? Maybe east or south, wesht is a whole new ball game. I'd love to see wesht cork and Doric meet.
I'm from east of Inverness so spared the ruubarrrr bumparrrs min.just get told my accent is a soft reminder I'm scottish. It's not harsh it's not indecipherable ( unless a few local drinks have been imbibed)

[tamthebam]

I'm now reminded of the diplomatic words of Scotland's ambassador to Quebec, Mr Sadowitz:

"Good Evening Moose f*ckers. Half of you speak French and the other half let them..."

[Fullerene]

7 hours ago, senorsoupe said:

People outside of Canada often forget that close to 25% of our population speak French as a first language

Also it is not just Quebec.  As well as New Brunswick being bilingual there are French speaking communities in Ontario and Manitoba.  I was surprised to learn about this on a flight to Winnipeg.

[paranoid android]

1 hour ago, tamthebam said:

I'm now reminded of the diplomatic words of Scotland's ambassador to Quebec, Mr Sadowitz:

"Good Evening Moose f*ckers. Half of you speak French and the other half let them..."

Pretty sure some Moose Fucker got up on stage and lamped Sadowitz shortly after he said this. 

[Bonksy+HisChristianParade]

I used to think the worst accent was Aberdonian but am honestly coming round to the idea that it might be Fife. Was talking to someone from there recently and just wanted them to stop speaking, horrific accent. I think they were from Lochgelly or something. Most Edinburgh accents are shite too - they seem to either be a posh almost English accent or a brutal, shoackan Limmy-style effort.

[DrewDon]

13 hours ago, Fratelli said:

Had a few pals at uni from posh areas of Aberdeenshire and always found it weird that they all had an almost English twang to their accents. Possibly due to English parents or whatever but it was interesting that near enough all of them had it. Don't mind the regular Aberdonian accent too much, but am puzzled by the Dundee accent which i'd never heard until uni. 

However i'm from the borders myself and have been told that i have a shocker of an accent.  Pretty much had to put on a neutral Scottish accent when i moved away as it became quickly apparent that communicating with anyone who wasn't also from the borders was a bit of a challenge. 

This is quite common among people who grew up in more middle-class areas of Aberdeen, too. A couple of work colleagues (neither Aberdonian) asked me recently if I had been brought up elsewhere when I said I was from Aberdeen, because they thought I didn't sound Aberdonian and couldn't place my accent. 

[coprolite]

1 hour ago, Bonksy+HisChristianParade said:

I used to think the worst accent was Aberdonian but am honestly coming round to the idea that it might be Fife. Was talking to someone from there recently and just wanted them to stop speaking, horrific accent. I think they were from Lochgelly or something. Most Edinburgh accents are shite too - they seem to either be a posh almost English accent or a brutal, shoackan Limmy-style effort.

I couldn't make head nor tail of this because of the buckfasty slack jawed drawling noise. Byraway. 

[Silverton End]

Anne Lundon has the most beautiful accent.

[Hillonearth]

6 hours ago, Bonksy+HisChristianParade said:

I used to think the worst accent was Aberdonian but am honestly coming round to the idea that it might be Fife. Was talking to someone from there recently and just wanted them to stop speaking, horrific accent. I think they were from Lochgelly or something. Most Edinburgh accents are shite too - they seem to either be a posh almost English accent or a brutal, shoackan Limmy-style effort.

The Edinburgh accent that I always found the strangest when I spent a lot of time there was that odd hybrid Scottish/RP merchant school type one where a lot of the vowel sounds get mangled into weird dipthongs that you don't really hear anywhere else...if you watch the sketch show Absolutely a few of them have got fairly pronounced versions of it.

I don't think everybody that goes to the schools necessarily develops it - an ex of mine who went to Heriot's managed to avoid it and just sounded posh Scottish, but her former school friend flatmate had a full-on version,

 

[topcat(The most tip top)]

The Edinburgh accent that I always found the strangest when I spent a lot of time there was that odd hybrid Scottish/RP merchant school type one where a lot of the vowel sounds get mangled into weird dipthongs that you don't really hear anywhere else...if you watch the sketch show Absolutely a few of them have got fairly pronounced versions of it

 

The four Scottish ones were school friends at Watson’s which means you win some kind of prize.

[Empty It]

For the language being called English they don't half butcher it.

[Dan Steele]

In an American hotel I had to explain what a couple from Camelon were saying to the Receptionist as she couldn't understand them. Probably not so unusual, even here.

[Granny Danger]

2 minutes ago, The Skelpit Lug said:

In an American hotel I had to explain what a couple from Camelon were saying to the Receptionist as she couldn't understand them. Probably not so unusual, even here.