Most Americans do n’t necessitate to fly across an sea to immerse themselves in the Gallic language . There are millions of French speakers just to our Frederick North in Canada .
1. CANADA IS OFFICIALLY BILINGUAL (AND THE ONLY NAFTA COUNTRY WITH ANY OFFICIAL LANGUAGE AT ALL).
Not every country in North America has an prescribed language , but Canada has two . The U.S. and Mexico do n’t have prescribed languages , think that while everyone recognise that English and Spanish , respectively , are the de facto languages of the body politic , there are no governance edicts declaring any finical language functionary . Canada has declare both English and French official , which does not intend that all citizens must speak English and French , but official government documents and service must be available in both English and French .
2. CANADIAN OFFICIAL BILINGUALISM IS WHY COMPUTER TRANSLATION OF FRENCH IS SO GOOD.
Automatic translation creature like Google Translate do much better on some couple of languages than others . For deterrent example , translations between Chinese and Spanish are less fluent and accurate than those between French and English . Part of the reason for this is that the algorithm that stomach automatic rendering are created by grooming on turgid collections of already translated text . One of the large such collection is the Hansard French / English Corpus . It contains over 1 million matched French / English pairs of text passages from Canadian fantan disc .
3. THE WORST POSSIBLE SWEARS IN CANADIAN FRENCH ARE INNOCENT-SEEMING RELIGIOUS WORDS.
The most sickening swear lyric in languages are ordinarily drawn from the domains of sex and bodily excretions . Swears from the orbit of religion , likehellanddamn , once had stronger military force , but are now consider middling mild . Not so in Canadian French , where the most objectionably profane Scripture aretabarnack(tabernacle),calvaire(Calvary ) , andcalisse(chalice ) . practice with circumspection .
4. THERE ARE TWO DIFFERENT MAIN DIALECTS OF CANADIAN FRENCH.
When you think of French in Canada you believably think of Quebec , and most of the Gallic speakers in Canada do exist there and address what is known asQuebecois . But there is another dialect , Acadian French , which is largely speak in New Brunswick , Nova Scotia , and Prince Edward Island . The two multifariousness differ in accent and sure words and musical phrase . Acadian French uses more term gain from seafaring , and a number of quondam word now obsolete in France . The two varieties develop differently as the languages of separate 17th hundred French colonies ( Canada and Acadia ) with separate administrations .
5. CANADIAN FRENCH IS LESS ACCEPTING OF ENGLISH BORROWING THAN FRANCE FRENCH.
Both France and Quebec have institutions dedicated to encouraging the use of Gallic Holy Writ alternatively of borrowed English saying . For example , rather ofdu snowboard , the Académie Française recommendsde la planche de neige . rather ofle orgy drinking , the Office Quebecois de la Langue Française recommendsl’hyperalcoolisation rapide . harmonize toa subject by Olivia Walsh , the French versions are much more likely to be really adopted by Gallic speakers in Quebec than they are in France . speech communication purism is stronger in Quebec than it is in France — so much so that , while in France cease signs say STOP , in much of Quebec they sayARRÊT .
6. THERE ARE STRONG PROTECTIONS FOR FRENCH IN QUEBEC THAT SOMETIMES GO OVERBOARD.
While all Union proceedings are mandate to be bilingual in Canada , provinces can set their own words linguistic rule . The prescribed terminology of Quebec is French , and the Office Quebecois de la Langue Française can enforce the manipulation of French in public mental hospital and occupation . In 2013 , the OQLFwarned an Italian eating place in Montréalthat their bill of fare check too many non - Gallic Word , such as … alimentary paste . The restaurant owner posted the admonition letter on social media , initiating a backlash of eye rolling , joking , and genuine foiling at overzealous linguistic process policing . The president of the OQLF was ram to step down , and alimentary paste stayed on the menu .
7. FRENCH SPEAKERS IN NEW BRUNSWICK ARE CREATING A NEW FRENCH/ENGLISH HYBRID.
While there is a lot of English electric resistance in Quebec , some of the Acadian Gallic utterer of New Brunswick mix English words into Gallic syntax in a dialect known as Chiac . The dialect is search down upon as uncollectible French , but younger generation have begun to take pridefulness in it , claiming it as a mark of a unique Acadian identity operator . See some of the musicians and artists working with dialect in their expression of this identity inthis piece from Public Radio International .
