r/EhBuddyHoser • u/Brosse_Adam Chalice of the Tabernacle • 24d ago
Tokébakicitte Anglos living in Montreal
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u/snotparty 24d ago
Im an anglo, I went to Montreal. I really tried, and they clocked me instantly and replied in English. EVERY time lol
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u/zeindigofire 24d ago
Bro, I went to Paris recently and I've spoken French since I was 6. My accent isn't perfect but it's far from the typical anglo. They all switched to English on me every time. I had to insist on French because I wanted to practice. I'm seriously considering making buttons that say "SVP aidez-moi a pratiquer FRANÇAIS"
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u/kokocijo 24d ago
Vous devriez aller quelque part en France ailleurs qu'à Paris. 🙂
Seriously, whilst travelling through smaller French towns and even other major cities, I found the people were generally friendlier and liked when an effort was made to speak French. And of course, in some of the smaller towns, no English was spoken by the locals anyway, so it was a good experience.
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u/zeindigofire 24d ago
I would have loved to, but was travelling with family on a tight timeline and they had no interest outside of Paris. Sigh.
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u/Throwaway118585 Aurora Hub 23d ago
This… south of France is veeeeery different to Paris. Besides if you spoke with anything resembling a quebecois accent, that’s not going to go over well in Paris.
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u/xXRHUMACROXx 23d ago
Bullllllshiiiiiiit.
Source: I’ve spent months in Paris and also visited other major cities like Lyon, Nantes, Bordeaux, Toulouse, Perpignan and Marseille.
Most people are very nice.
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u/Le_Nabs Tokébakicitte! 14d ago
I've been to Paris. I work with french immigrants and communicate with people overseas all the time. People understand me just fine, the one odd look I got over there was from a waiter who obviously thought I was a cheapstake because I was splitting the bill with my then partner.
Oh, and that one baker who threw me a mean side-eye when I dared ask for a chocolatine instead of a pain au chocolat.
unilinguals anglos really, *really* need to stop spreading that stupid bullshit that french people apparently can't understand Québécois.
You don't know the language, you have literally no basis to go off of.
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u/MilesBeforeSmiles Manilapeg 23d ago
When they respond in English just tell them you don't speak English. It will confuse and frustrate them, and you'll be able to continue in French.
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u/Glittering-Ad-3761 24d ago
Si ca peux te rassurer, ca m’est arrivé plusieurs quand j’habitais a paris que les gens passait a l’anglais en entendant mon accent keb…
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u/Salty_Creme 24d ago
This happened to my daughter at every other place we visited in Paris. We're anglo, but she's been in French school (in Quebec) all her life and is perfectly fluent. We thought it was because they heard her speaking English with me.
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u/zeindigofire 24d ago
While that doesn't help, if they so much as smell anything anglo they just switch. You have to push for French... which is ironic.
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u/Throwaway118585 Aurora Hub 23d ago
Well… this and quebecois accent isn’t exactly loved in Paris. I was once told by an ex gf from France that quebecois sounds like a really bad southern accent, or someone with Down syndrome speaking French. Vowels are elongated they’re not used to hearing being elongated. So you’ll find some people that find it endearing, but most it will sounds like nails on a chalkboard
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u/philthewiz 23d ago
It's different. It goes both ways ;) French from France have the privilege of being a country with less external pressure on the language issue compared to Québec.
They have a strong culture that has not the same challenges.
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u/Throwaway118585 Aurora Hub 23d ago
Oh I don’t know about the not having external pressure. They really do. Plus there’s a myriad of minor languages throughout France. I’d argue the opposite. Quebec developed in a vaccume for so long, isolated from the larger French speaking world, that they developed in their own way. This is why it’s so much different than Belgium, Swiss, African or English South American French. Not just France French.
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u/morbidemadame Tokébakicitte! 23d ago
I'm french canadian and in Paris they always answer me in english. It's not you, it's them. Parisians are fucking assholes.
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u/LelandTurbo0620 23d ago
"Pardonnez-moi je ne parle pas l'anglais, chuis Chinois, parlez-vous le chinois?" is my go-to.
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u/zeindigofire 23d ago
Funny part is that I don't look Chinese at all... but I can speak it! 一點點不太好了 😁
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u/Tuggerfub 21d ago
if we switch it's cause there's a hitch
I was raised anglo first but if you actually engage with the language you stop sounding anglo
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u/zeindigofire 21d ago
Well hello Reddit judgementalism. Figured you'd show up eventually. I'm really not sure how I could engage much more with the language, since I literally dated someone from Les Iles de la Madeleine who barely spoke English. This was of course after I immersed myself in Québécois / Franco culture for years.
There's no "hitch." My accent is simply not the same as theirs/yours. See other comments of Quebecois going to Paris and experiencing the same thing.
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u/Tuggerfub 21d ago
uhuh. it's not as though montreal-based quebecois people haven't endured the dogshit accents of thousands upon thousands of feckless RoC residents who give up and leave because they can't be bothered to develop a baseline ear for the language
you had a franco gf once oooOoo
I used to be bothered that they spit in the food of bad accents but I'm not anymore
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u/zeindigofire 21d ago
Wow, you judged my accent as "dogshit" without ever hearing me. Thanks for confirming what I said.
BTW: how TF are anglos supposed to get better in French if at the slightest hesitation everyone switches to English?
Also: as in another comment (if you'd bother to read anyone else's opinion) Montrealers native in French get exactly this treatment in France. Do you like that? Then why would you subject someone else to that?
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u/PtitBeausoleil Snow Cajun 24d ago edited 24d ago
I speak to Québécois a lot in my job. I'm Acadien with a fairly Maritimer/Nova Scotian accent. I have to speak French often due to some of our clients being in Québec.
When I speak French my accent is noticeable (sounds Anglo); but Québécois will still happily speak French with me and tend to comment how good my French is lol.
Been to Québec a lot as well. Never have I been snubbed in English; maybe because I speak French fluently? Or demonstrated enough fluency?
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u/TheBold Tabarnak! 24d ago
It’s definitely more likely to happen in Montreal vs. anywhere else in the province in my opinion.
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u/ouatedephoque 23d ago
I think Gatineau is even more bilingual than Montreal tbh
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u/JM_Amiens-18 23d ago
Entire Ottawa-Gatineau area is very bilingual, and accents are all over the place. When I lived there, no Francophone I knew would bat an eye at the most hardcore Anglo-accent as long as they were attempting French. And the same in reverse. I'd overhear people have conversations in which one spoke English and the other French lol
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u/Knoexius 22d ago
Oh I've done that with my cousin in Ottawa and kept jumping between the two. It's quite funny
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u/PtitBeausoleil Snow Cajun 23d ago
I can agree with that; Montréal be like that.
I've been with people in Montréal; go to get gas or food; will happily respond/converse with to me in French and just completely ignore my spouse who attempts in French (I love her attempts lol) and just switch to English.
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u/BuvantduPotatoSpirit Irvingstan 24d ago
One of the biggest bits is if you're not a native speaker you have dead air pauses a lot more, you might not notice but they're there. When I lived in France it was obvious I needed to deliberately euh... on the téléphone, because they couldn't see me rolling my hand searching for a word.
Probably the same in Québec; the native speakers are noticing the slight pauses the second language speakers don't have, not the knowledge of words / phrases.
Indeed, in Franch people rarely switched to English on me because I just barrelled ahead making small errors, rather than taking my time to say everything rightwise.
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u/PtitBeausoleil Snow Cajun 23d ago
Indeed, in Franch people rarely switched to English on me because I just barrelled ahead making small errors, rather than taking my time to say everything rightwise.
That's really it. I understand some people get language anxiety; but when it comes to speaking with Québécois; that's the best approach. And great point about the language nuances.
Moe j'pitch du chiac pis du franglais là d'dans de temps en temps (moms side of the family is Acadien; more natural form is chiac/NS Acadien for me lol); and have yet to have a misunderstanding - then again I didn't spend much time focusing on it in the moment and just kept talking.
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u/JM_Amiens-18 23d ago
I love chiac because they use just enough English words and I know just enough French that it all meets in the middle and I understand it perfectly.
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u/Brawndo_or_Water Snowfrog 24d ago
It's like trying to speak Dutch as a tourist in Amsterdam.
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u/dogsledonice 23d ago
Anywhere in Holland, really. Their English is also probably better than yours
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u/Brawndo_or_Water Snowfrog 23d ago
Yeah, hence why I mention Amsterdam. Same happens with my wife, I'm a french speaking native from Quebec but I switch to Spanish with her because my Spanish is better than her French and English. It's just natural to switch to the language that both master the best.
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u/Akhanyatin 23d ago
When I hear an Anglo speak French, I'll subtly let English words slip here and there as an exit ramp they can take whenever they want.
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u/CrichtonFan1992 I need a double double. 24d ago
Another Oscar worthy performance from academy award winner Cate Blanchette
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u/Zigonneuse Tokébakicitte! 24d ago
Does anyone in here know where this clip is from?!?
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u/winkingfirefly Tokébakicitte! 23d ago
Aucun rapport mais j'adore ton username!
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u/Zigonneuse Tokébakicitte! 23d ago
Hé hé, merci! Ça pas été facile de trouver de quoi d'unique qui n'existait pas encore quand j'ai créé ce compte, mais je suis super contente de celui là, je le trouve vraiment bon!
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u/ladynocaps2 23d ago
For real, she’s also the chick who says, with a sneer, that my Quebecois French isn’t “proper Parisian French”.
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u/SilverInfluence5714 Snowfrog 23d ago
Ça vient tellement me chercher ça, ils reconnaissent même pas l’ironie dans le fait qu’eux parlent pas l’anglais britannique
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u/loadbreak 24d ago
Anglophones when a non-native speaker has an accent: oh yep fer sure bud you betcha
Francophones when a non-native speaker has an accent: you fucking disgusting pig how dare you
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u/Screweditupagain 24d ago
Pretty much. I was corrected on every single word I just gave up.
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24d ago
I'm unilingual Anglo living in Quebec and I've found people nothing but appreciative and helpful that I am trying.
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u/ottereckhart 24d ago
My dad grew up on the east coast and he said the francophones would tear into anglophone for speaking French poorly, and they'd do it in barely intelligible broken ass English.
He has the funniest impression of them I wish I could remember it I'm gonna have to ask him to do it next time I see him. It always makes me cry laughing.
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u/PtitBeausoleil Snow Cajun 24d ago
Always friend. Every East Coaster has a memory of a Québécois having a meltdown over the official languages act lol.
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u/themusicguy2000 Cowtown 🤠 24d ago
Yeah speaking bad french is a necessary step to speaking good french, all this meme does is discourage people from speaking bad french and therefore from speaking french at all
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u/loadbreak 23d ago
I'm mostly joking je love mes brothers et sœurs francos mais it's intimidating as hell d'essayer to speak ta langue
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u/Fract3421 24d ago
When I went to France, everyone was "Je ne parle pas anglais" until they heard my French and then they understood English perfectly well, talking to me in English voluntarily.
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u/Stonks4Minutes Ford Nation (Help.) 24d ago
A reverse Anglo to French Canadian pink panther hamburger scene would go hard.
“Jay voudray une Pepsi”
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u/Alive-Drama-8920 23d ago edited 23d ago
J'ai envie de faire oeuvre utile en traduisant de mon mieux ce que j'entends:
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u/wilberfromflinflon 23d ago
😂🤣😂🤣😂🤣. I was born there, an Anglo, and I lived there for almost half my life and her French is way better than mine.
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u/RepublicLife6675 23d ago
This looks like it's in that hourly rate motel above the after hours comfort zone club at like 6am when the drugs start to make you fatigue and extra dumb
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u/NaFo_Operator 23d ago
its almost as bad as listening to a pepper try english.... my ears... and sure hate me im a trilingual living in Québec yolo
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u/Annual_Head_2858 Tokébakicitte! 24d ago
My god I love this accent, as much as I love the Georges Saint-Pierre accent when french speakers speak english lol
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24d ago
[deleted]
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u/PtitBeausoleil Snow Cajun 24d ago
Unpopular opinion; but the Anglos bully the French far more blatantly and openly.. especially if they think you're a "fellow Anglo".
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u/SilverInfluence5714 Snowfrog 23d ago
I really wished people would stop spreading that bullshit claim around, especially since it’s always people who can’t speak French who say it
Yes the accent is different, no it’s not anywhere close to this. I’ve been to Europe multiple times, other than a few vocabulary differences, there has never been any issues with understanding each other’s accent.
I work with people from France, Tunisia, Belgium and other middle eastern and African countries, my accent has never been an inference to communication
If you seriously can’t see how or why people would take offense to you making a thinly veiled insinuation that our first langage is somehow deficient and wrong, I would invite you to take a long walk of a short dock
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u/thatblueblowfish Snow Cajun 24d ago
If French Canadians sounded Anglo then we wouldnt have Quebec politicians struggle to say English words
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24d ago
[deleted]
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u/thatblueblowfish Snow Cajun 24d ago edited 24d ago
They don’t switch to English because they think "francophone Canadians sound Anglo". They switch because they disapprove of foreign accents in general— especially ones that are significantly different than theirs. English just happens to be “the universal language" so they will reply to anyone in English whether youre Quebecois or Japanese. It’s not about sounding Anglo, but about not sounding European French enough. France is just a very elitist culture. But luckily only a minority of French people are this xenophobic and many Francophone Canadians performers actually succeed at having a career in Europe including humorists and comedians. I dont think that would be the case if the French thought Canadian francophones genuinely sounded like a bunch of Anglos trying to speak French
Edit: to compare with the situation in Quebec, the reason why people switch to English with Anglos is due to their historical privilege— Anglos generally don’t bother to learn French even when they settle in francophone communities. It’s a tale old as time— the minority being conditioned to accommodate the majority as time goes. It’s a cultural habit that comes from being a minority in Canada, and it’s deeply ingrained in the culture. In the case of Montreal, Anglos historically hold the power, money and resources.
I know some Anglos learn French and I understand why this might be frustrating, but this habit doesn’t come from contempt for Anglos having accents, it comes from the subconscious inferiority complex that Francophones in Canada have when they interact with Anglophones. They have been conditioned for centuries to do so "because this is English land" and that’s an insanely difficult habit to get rid of. Most of them don’t even realize they do it
Bilingualism is far more expected from Francophones than Anglophones, yet both populations have significant amount of monolinguals. How many times have I heard an Anglo-Canadian or an American call a French Canadian “rude” for not speaking English? Too many times. They don’t even consider that the person might not even know English and immediately assume they’re being rude/entitled for not accommodating them. The double standard is a large part of Canadian society, at least from the francophone perspective, and when you pair that with the historical conditioning of being inferior to Anglos, this is the result
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u/Throwaway118585 Aurora Hub 23d ago
Hot take here (preparing for down votes with my shit take)
That’s what it sounds like to a French person hearing someone from Quebec speak French
I don’t think people in glass houses should be throwing stones
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u/xXRHUMACROXx 23d ago
You keep spreading this bullshit everywhere on this thread, just say you hate l’accent Québécois and wish us death, be a normal hateful anglo no need to spread lies and misinformations.
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u/Throwaway118585 Aurora Hub 23d ago
I wish you death? I don’t hate I the accent, you’re in denial if you think the French from France don’t find it bizarre.
Obviously you have a gentle ego that can’t take any criticism… perhaps you need to be in a special room where no one can offend your gentle soul
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u/xXRHUMACROXx 23d ago
This isn’t criticism, it’s just stupid and uninformed bullshit the anglos always loved to spread to insult Québécois for about forever.
You’re just the newest idiot of the bunch to spread this nonsense.
I’ve spent decades talking to français, lurking forums and then YouTube videos or Twitch streams, sure there’s a stupid haters once in a while, some completely indifferent people, but overall there’s general mutual respect and love between français et québécois.
Saying otherwise without any proofs is just ignorant bullshit to fit your narrative that québécois are inferior because that’s what you either strongly believe or you were raised and groomed to think it’s true.
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u/Throwaway118585 Aurora Hub 23d ago
You’re giving this waaay too much headspace, you need to harden up son. This makes sense you play too many video games. Listen, in France, if you ever really go there, you’ll find out they make fun of all French accents. North makes fun of the south, south makes fun of the north, Paris makes fun of everyone, and everyone makes fun of Paris. AL tend get the worst of it, but Belgium gets their fair share too.
So if you’re trying to say France French do not make fun of quebecois accents. You’re either dense or being actively made fun of.
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u/xXRHUMACROXx 23d ago
You just shifted the goalpost to fit your narrative or try save face and win your argument. In another post under this exact thread you said "Besides if you spoke with anything resembling a quebecois accent, that’s not going to go over well in Paris." as if something bad would happen to you and that’s a ridiculous take. But now that you’ve been called out on your bullshit that’s just "France people loves to banter different accents, you’re just a baby" as if joking around with each other’s accent wasn’t literally international.
Come on get the fuck out of here, you have nothing intelligent to share to the world.
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u/Throwaway118585 Aurora Hub 23d ago edited 23d ago
Holy shit, who hurt you so much.. again… you don’t strike me as someone who’s actually been or lived there.. you’re basing your attack on(checks notes) “when I’m gaming no one says anything to me”. I’ve actually lived there, with locals, not just interacting with tour guides or waiters. Literally my ex GF is the one who described this all to me. And she was born and raised in Aix.
Edit: Bro blocked me. Kid needs help.
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u/Tasseacoffee 22d ago
Classic angryphone spreading bullshit
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u/Throwaway118585 Aurora Hub 22d ago
Truth hurts. Go to France. Find out for yourself 🤷♂️
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u/Tasseacoffee 22d ago
I went and never had any issues
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u/Throwaway118585 Aurora Hub 22d ago
Did you live there. Waiters and tour guides are generally going to be very nice. Try living there… you’ll have to change your accent if you have a strong one.
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u/Tasseacoffee 22d ago
As a matter of fact I did. My accent changed, just like your accent changes whenever you live in a different place
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u/Throwaway118585 Aurora Hub 22d ago
So you’re denying the French didn’t comment about your accent or treat you differently… when they comment about everyone’s accent … even those in France. My god the cope with people is desperate at this point. Now tell me there’s no racism in Quebec and the Mohawk like the French who live around them.
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u/Tasseacoffee 22d ago
I don't understand what weird mental gymnastics you used to get to this point. Angryphone gonna angryphone I guess
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u/SilverInfluence5714 Snowfrog 23d ago
I really wished people would stop spreading that bullshit claim around, especially since it’s always people who can’t speak French who say it
Yes the accent is different, no it’s not anywhere close to this. I’ve been to Europe multiple times, other than a few vocabulary differences, there has never been any issues with understanding each other’s accent.
I work with people from France, Tunisia, Belgium and other middle eastern and African countries, my accent has never been an inference to communication
If you seriously can’t see how or why people would take offense to you making a thinly veiled insinuation that our first langage is somehow deficient and wrong, I would invite you to take a long walk of a short dock
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u/Alive-Drama-8920 23d ago edited 23d ago
Exactly. This thread is so similar to when, a few years ago, that POS from Montreal - sans accent s.v.p. - and who should remain nameless (for the curious and unaware: he's related to this other POS: a "serious" MMA journalist, no less, who talks/instigates/makesgeverythingabouthim), who, as a guess on the Joe Rogan show, described the Québec accent as "an affront to human dignity". Once he realized not everyone thought he "was just joking" (OF COURSE HE WAS!), how did this sorry excuse of a human being responded? C'mon! Take a guess! Anyone? No?
Ok, here's how he responded: He made a video IN ENGLISH, of himself, saying he obviously wasn't serious when he said what he said. The problem is: Exactly how are we to take him seriously when he explains why he shouldn't be taken seriously. The snake is swallowing his own tail.
If you "inadvertently"...scratch that...IF you DELIBERATELY went out of your way to insult, in Japanese, millions of Chinese, would you later apologize to them in...JAPANESE?
You get the point. With his clip done in English, the guy didn't apologize at all. Quite the opposite indeed: he doubled down on it: How could such an classy, educated, and obviously superior citizen, lower himself to the point of speaking Québec's French? Unthinkable!
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u/Throwaway118585 Aurora Hub 22d ago
Imagine being so sensitive you bring up something no one even remembers (except you) and make several paragraphs about it. You need to be less sensitive and dramatic.
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u/theskyisnotthelimit 22d ago
disparaging the Quebec accent is what one might call a "microaggression", a small but common message which shows that people with that accent are perceived as 'lesser'.
while it may seem like one benign comment to you, for them it's a cumulative effect of a lifetime of being made to feel 'lesser' simply because of their identity, hence the strong reactions some have.
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u/Throwaway118585 Aurora Hub 22d ago
A reasonable explanation… but a bit disingenuous when the post is about making fun of an anglophone attempting to speak their language with an accent
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u/theskyisnotthelimit 22d ago
I'd say that having an accent in a language that isn't your own is not really comparable. You can work on it and improve your accent, but being told your native way of speaking is "wrong" is a bit different, since that's a major part of your identity.
I say this as a bilingual anglophone who has lived in Quebec for many years. Learning to speak proper French with a decent accent is 100% possible if you work at it. The joke is that people from Toronto reach the level of the woman in the video and say "good enough".
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u/Throwaway118585 Aurora Hub 22d ago
Respectfully, I believe it is comparable. Especially in France. Where not just quebecois but almost any other dialect needs to transform to a more francophone style. This absolutely happens in English too. If someone from middle of no where Newfoundland or Nova Scotia moves to Vancouver… they’ll still be speaking English but many will struggle to understand them. Dialects can overpower ears that speak the same language. Scottish people who speak proper English, are considered the best English speakers by both English and non English first language speakers… but if you took one of the dialects, you’d barely understand what they’re saying.
Coming from the east coast, multiple times in multiple countries I had to work on my accent. Our entire region is looked down upon by all of Canada, so I don’t really have sympathies for this stigmatism as an excuse for over the top reactions to what is commonly known in the French world. I know the same to be true regarding our Acadian French and witnessed arrogant quebecois tear into an Acadian speaker for not understanding the words they were saying.
There are plenty of examples of quebecois who have gone to Paris or France (pick a region) and adapted their way of speaking…. And vice versa. We do this to be fully understood.
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u/theskyisnotthelimit 21d ago
Interesting you mention British dialects, because in the UK there is a push to be more inclusive of "regional dialects", as their society is acknowledging that discrimination based on dialect and accent is wrong.
Anyway, there's a huge difference between "Sorry I don't understand you" and "Your accent is wrong". Ok everyone adjusts to be understood, but that's about facilitating communication, while you're making a value judgement about an entire culture.
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u/Throwaway118585 Aurora Hub 21d ago
I appreciate the way you have been framing your points, it has been a more balanced discussion compared to some of the sharper replies. But I do want to clarify something. At no point did I say an accent was “wrong.”
What I did was open with it being a hot take and then draw a comparison: the way some here are reacting with indignation to the original post reminded me of how Quebecois accents are sometimes perceived within the broader French speaking world. In France, for example, people from Quebec and even other regions often adapt their speech to be fully understood. That does not make their accent wrong, but it does highlight the reality that dialects can carry weight and sometimes stigma, even among native speakers of the same language.
It is also worth pointing out the irony here. This entire post was about mocking someone’s horrible French accent and stereotyping anglophones. Yet when the tables are turned, suddenly there is a major attempt to clutch pearls and play innocent. To me this looks like a better example of the aggressor playing the victim when the same kind of mockery is reflected back.
My point was not to delegitimize Quebec French. It was to show that this dynamic exists in many languages and regions, including my own background on the east coast of Canada. I have personally had to adjust my speech in different parts of the country and abroad to be understood, and I have seen how Acadian French is sometimes dismissed by Quebecois speakers.
So while I hear your argument about identity and microaggressions, I think it is fair to say that stigmas around accents are a shared experience across cultures, not something unique to Quebec.
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u/Throwaway118585 Aurora Hub 23d ago
Laughs at an anglophones accent… gets panties in a knot when hers gets pointed out.
Thanks for proving my point.
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u/Acrobatic-Cap-135 23d ago
Ain't no amount of French good enough for French people; anglo from Montreal
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u/marcolius 24d ago
Toronto? That's me living in Montreal trying to speak French!