Regarde a! As-tu dj vu a? Tu me crois-tu? Speak Qubec! is a fun and practical handbook designed to help both native English and French speakers understand and speak Qubcois, the common tongue in Qubec. Comprising over three thousand commonly used words and expressions, Speak Qubec! provides a dynamic and accurate reference for daily Qubec conversation, including clear examples of common sayings heard around the Province. It also includes a complete history of the language, and a guide to differences in pronunciation and grammar from International French. Designed for quick reference and practical usage, Speak Qubec! is a terrific way to understand and appreciate one of the oldest, richest, and most inspired cultures in North America.
Regarde �a! As-tu d�j� vu �a? Tu me crois-tu? Speak Qu�bec! is a fun and practical handbook designed to help both native English and French speakers understand and speak Qu�b�cois, the common tongue in Qu�bec. Comprising over three thousand commonly used words and expressions, Speak Qu�bec! provides a dynamic and accurate reference for daily Qu�bec conversation, including clear examples of common sayings heard around the Province. It also includes a complete history of the language, and a guide to differences in pronunciation and grammar from International French. Designed for quick reference and practical usage, Speak Qu�bec! is a terrific way to understand and appreciate one of the oldest, richest, and most inspired cultures in North America.
If you grapple daily with spoken Québec French, are thinking of visiting or doing business in la belle province or would like to communicate more effectively with your Québécois friends and colleagues, French Fun is the book for you. With lively illustrations and hilarious literal translations, it introduces you to the French language of Québec through a collection of some of the most common and colourful idioms heard in Québec today. These are words from the real spoken French of Québec — some standard, some informal, others with a fascinating linguistic or cultural story behind them. The perfect complement to all French programs, French Fun is a must for anyone wishing to have a more intimate acquaintance with the French language of Québec and the people who speak it. Ce livre constitue un recueil des mots et expressions les plus courants et colorés de la langue québécoise de tous les jours. En le publiant, l’auteur veut partager cette richesse linguistique avec les anglophones de partout. Bien que s’adressant principalement aux anglophones, cette oeuvre peut aussi être intéressante et utile pour les francophones.
Speak Quebec! is a practical handbook for understanding Quebecois, the day-to-day French spoken in the Province of Quebec. Comprising over three thousand commonly-used words and expressions, it provides a dynamic & fun yet accurate reference for English speakers who wish to express themselves in daily Quebec conversation. Designed to open the door to Quebec culture, Speak Quebec! provides a linguistic basis to help understand and appreciate one of the oldest, richest, and most inspired cultures in North America.
As the threat of another Quebec referendum on independence looms, this book becomes important for every Canadian — especially as language remains both a barrier and a bridge in our divided country Canada’s language policy is the only connection between two largely unilingual societies — English-speaking Canada and French-speaking Quebec. The country’s success in staying together depends on making it work. How well is it working? Graham Fraser, an English-speaking Canadian who became bilingual, decided to take a clear-eyed look at the situation. The results are startling — a blend of good news and bad. The Official Languages Act was passed with the support of every party in the House way back in 1969 — yet Canada’s language policy is still a controversial, red-hot topic; jobs, ideals, and ultimately the country are at stake. And the myth that the whole thing was always a plot to get francophones top jobs continues to live. Graham Fraser looks at the intentions, the hopes, the fears, the record, the myths, and the unexpected reality of a country that is still grappling with the language challenge that has shaped its history. He finds a paradox: after letting Quebec lawyers run the country for three decades, Canadians keep hoping the next generation will be bilingual — but forty years after learning that the country faced a language crisis, Canada’s universities still treat French as a foreign language. He describes the impact of language on politics and government (not to mention social life in Montreal and Ottawa) in a hard-hitting book that will be discussed everywhere, including the headlines in both languages.
Learn Canadian French and speak with a beautiful aged accent of colonial France that has stood the test of time, exceeding 400 years in North America. This book provides countless expressions, idioms, and typical French Canadian words, explaining the differences between Parisian French and Canadian French, with many grammar tables. This book also contains one chapter featuring French-Canadian medium to high impact coarse language. This second edition also includes downloadable audio files, provided in the link inside the book. Once downloaded, you may listen to various chapters and practice your Canadian French oral spoken skills by repeating the sentences and pronunciations. You will also find that the words include English transliteral pronunciations of the French words, which helps the reader tremendously in understanding the French-Canadian accent.
Why does everything sound better if it's said in French? That fascination is at the heart of The Story of French, the first history of one of the most beautiful languages in the world that was, at one time, the pre-eminent language of literature, science and diplomacy. In a captivating narrative that spans the ages, from Charlemagne to Cirque du Soleil, Jean-Benoît Nadeau and Julie Barlow unravel the mysteries of a language that has maintained its global influence despite the rise of English. As in any good story, The Story of French has spectacular failures, unexpected successes and bears traces of some of history's greatest figures: the tenacity of William the Conqueror, the staunchness of Cardinal Richelieu, and the endurance of the Lewis and Clark expedition. Through this colorful history, Nadeau and Barlow illustrate how French acquired its own peculiar culture, revealing how the culture of the language spread among francophones the world over and yet remains curiously centered in Paris. In fact, French is not only thriving—it still has a surprisingly strong influence on other languages. As lively as it is fascinating, The Story of French challenges long held assumptions about French and shows why it is still the world's other global language.
This study evaluates the importance of language in achieving a sense of national solidarity, considering factors such as territory, religion, race, historical continuity, and memory. It investigates the historical experiences of countries and ethnic or regional minorities according to how their political leadership, intellectual elite, or independence movements answered the question, "Who are we?" The Americans, British, and Australians all speak English, just as the French, Haitians, and French-Canadians all speak French, sharing common historical origin, vocabulary and usage--but each nationality's use of its language differs. So does language transform a citizenry into a community / or is a "national language" the product of idealogy? This work presents 26 case studies and raises three questions: whether the people of independent countries consider language the most important factor in creating their sense of nationality; whether the people living in multi-ethnic states or as regional minorities are most loyal to the community with which they share a language or the community with which they share citizenship; and whether people in countries with civil strife find a common language enough to create a sense of political solidarity. The study also covers hybrid languages, language revivals, the difference between dialects and languages, government efforts to promote or avoid bilingualism, the manipulation of spelling and alphabet reform. Illustrations include postage stamps, banknotes, flags, and posters illustrating language controversies. Instructors considering this book for use in a course may request an examination copy here.
