Oh, Canada! A sprawling, warm-hearted country that you might know for its famous friendliness, impressive mountains, cosmopolitan cities, maple syrup, and love of hockey. There’s also a rich variety of language and culture in Canada, including several Francophone areas—the biggest of which is Québec.
As a learner of French, a trip to French-speaking Canada might be at the top of your list, and we think that’s une bonne idée (a good idea)! But does Québec speak French or Canadian French? Though the French spoken in Canada is unique, your Standard French will definitely come in handy. No matter what dialect or region you’re exploring, Rosetta Stone’s Dynamic Immersion can bring linguistic variety right to your fingertips, mirroring the way you first acquired language as a child.
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How Canadian French originated
Canada history with France began in 1534 when explorer Jacques Cartier arrived in Newfoundland. French settlers— many of them fur traders—colonized much of the northern lands that are now Canada. This included what is now known as Québec, first founded in 1608 by Samuel de Champlain.
The British Empire also encouraged settlers to move to the Americas to ensure a foothold in the new, abundant land. While many of them settled farther south (as far as Florida), citizens of both countries co-existed in many areas near the Great Lakes and today’s New England through the French and Indian War and Revolutionary War. Even when French colonial rule came to an end, the French language and culture persisted in some areas, which influenced the official founding of Canada in 1867.
In 1969, the Official Languages Act recognized both English and French as co-official languages and granted them equal status by law. Today, the federal government of Canada operates in both languages, and provincial governments and territories are required to provide bilingual instruction to their students.
What French dialects are spoken in Canada?
The proximity to English speakers, paired with the sheer geographical vastness of Canada, created three groups of French speakers. Somewhat isolated from each other, the dialects evolved individually, but they each share features that differ from European French. Québecois is the dominant French dialect of the province of Québec and will be the focus of this post.
There are also specific dialects associated with each of the provinces of Canada, as Francophone communities maintained their language and culture over centuries. The other French Canadian dialects include Acadian, Franco-Ontarian, and Terre-Neuve (Newfoundland) French. Throughout Canada, and even south of the Canadian border, are other Francophone communities with related dialects.
How many people speak French in Canada?
Across the continent, over 7 million Canadians speak French as their first language, though about 10 million can speak conversational French. This equates to about 22 percent of the Canadian population. In nearly every province you will find pockets of Francophone communities, each with their own language distinctives.
If you’re traveling to Canada as a student or tourist, you’ll see signage and documents in both English and French. This is the case throughout the country, but if you really want to focus on learning to speak French, opt for a community that is majority Francophone like Québec.
Québec
The vast majority of Canadian French speakers live in Québec—so much so that French is the sole official language in this province. In Québec, over 84 percent of people speak Québecois (the French dialect spoken in Québec) as their first or second language. As of the 2021 Canadian census, 7,074,328 people speak French in Québec.
Acadia
Along the Atlantic, you’ll find the region called Acadia which includes New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island. Each of these areas have strong French-speaking traditions that are unique to the area, but they also have bilingual influence from English. Approximately 327,000 French speakers live in this area.
Ontario
Many newcomers of all language backgrounds choose to settle in Toronto. Over 60,000 people speak French in this dynamic and multicultural metropolis, but 526,000 people speak French in all of Ontario as of the 2021 census.
Western Canada
As you travel further west, you are more likely to find only smaller pockets of people maintaining their long-standing francophone heritage, such as St. Boniface (part of Winnipeg) in Manitoba, Gravelbourg in Saskatchewan, and St. Paul in Alberta.
- Alberta: 72,203
- British Columbia: 65,583
- Manitoba: 38,378
- Saskatchewan: 12,243
- Yukon: 1,895
How to identify the French Canadian accent
Everyone has an accent that reflects the pronunciation and cadences of their native language from childhood. Most English speakers know the difference among American, British, and Australian dialects. And within each of them, there are regional dialects that can be learned from Southern American English to Cockney English. You’ll also find the same differences in accents between Canadian French and Standard French.
For someone who grows up in Québec, different accents might be obvious between cities, but several things distinguish most Québecois from Standard French. That includes a few differences in how France and Canada use French accent marks or diacritics.
- Many vowels are pronounced differently, with more diphthongs used in Québecois.
- The “o” in words like chose (thing) in Québecois will sound as though you are pronouncing both “o” and “oo.”
- The “oi” sound in moi (me) sounds more like “oé.”
- The final “ain” sound in words like main (hand) sounds like “a-in” with a very nasal sound.
These vowel sounds reflect an older form of French, as pronounced by the original colonizers who would have become disconnected from how French in France evolved.
- Speech in Canada is considered to have more of a “sing-song” quality when compared with France.
- Vowels and word endings with silent consonants have more of a nasal sound, which can even lead to confusion between words, such as parents (parents) which could be confused with parrains (godparents).
- A careful listener will hear an “s” or “z” sound in some words with “t” or “d” consonants, such as mardi (Tuesday) which sounds more like “mardzi” or “extraordinaire” (amazing) which sounds like “extraordzinaire.”
It can be really fun to compare and contrast how new friends and acquaintances pronounce words. Though adapting to the Canadian French accent is more difficult for a European French speaker than perhaps a Swiss French accent, having patience, a sense of humor, and curiosity is the key to success.
What are the differences between Canadian French and Standard French?
If you ask a native French speaker from France, they’ll say they don’t recognize the French spoken in Canada, thanks to centuries of separation and influences. While this is a little bit tongue in cheek, the reality is that you can generally communicate and understand each other no matter which French dialect you use. The key is context in conversation. Here are a few differences between Canadian French and Standard French in France.
Less formality
Canadian French speakers use the more informal French pronoun tu (you) instead of vous (you) much more often than in France. This can make it feel easier and more casual to learn. The use of tu with strangers is considered impolite in France but not so much in Canada. It’s still not a bad idea to use vous, just in case, though you may be given permission right away to tutoyer (to use the tu form).
You’ll also notice more use of on (informal “we”) instead of nous (standard, formal “we”). In this case, French verbs are conjugated like the il/elle form, so it’s a little simpler to form some sentences, too.
Influence of English and First Nation languages
There are many First Nation communities throughout Canada, leading to loan-words that are specific to other indigenous languages. Some of these aboriginal tribes are the Métis and Inuit nations, and about 1.8 million people are indigenous to Canada. When French colonizers encountered natives of the Americas, they adopted many words for items and animals they had no words for. This loan-word practice is seen in many Canadian French words even today.
| French Word (Borrowed) | English Meaning |
| un achigan | a black bass |
| une babiche | a snowshoe |
| un carcajou | a wolverine |
| un maringouin | a mosquito |
| un mocassin | a moccasin |
English has a strong presence and influence in Canada, so anglicismes (words and phrases influenced by the English language) are quite common. They do not necessarily correspond with the anglicismes used in France, however!
| Canada | France | English Meaning |
| ARRÊT | STOP | STOP (on a stop sign) |
| C’est très le fun. | C’est très amusant. | It’s really fun. |
| cette fin de semaine | ce weekend | this weekend |
| J’ai parqué mon char | J’ai stationné ma voiture | I parked my car |
| Je vais faire du magasinage | Je vais faire du shopping | I’m going to go shopping |
| le courriel | le mail | the mail |
| le chien chaud | Le hotdog | the hot dog |
| un joke | une blague | a joke |
Names of meals
If you’ve studied the difference between the names of meals in France versus Switzerland or Belgium, then this will be a familiar difference from Canada. The words for “dinner,” “supper,” and even “tea” can cause confusion in English as well, so it is useful to know the common words in the region you are visiting.
| Canada | France | English Meaning |
| Le déjeuner | Le petit-déjeuner | the first meal in the morning, breakfast |
| Le dîner | Le déjeuner | mid-day meal lunch, luncheon, dinner (depending on English-speaking region) |
| Le souper | Le dîner | evening meal dinner, supper (depending on English-speaking region) |
Integrating older and newer terms
Just like in European French-speaking countries Switzerland and Belgium, there are traces of older French dialects that are still in use today, but have disappeared or are now considered antiquated in France. For example, barrer means “to lock” in Québec, but has been replaced with fermer à clé or verrouiller in France.
On the other hand, terms that have been invented specifically for things that exist only in Canada, such as some terms in government, technology, or words for newer products or ideas, will be different from France as well.
- un dépanneur = a small grocery store/corner store
Using tu in questions
In informal conversation in Québecois, questions can include the word tu as a marker of a question, in place of est-ce que. This is absent in formal French and in Europe.
- Elle a-tu dit oui? = Did she say yes?
- Il veut-tu aller au marché? = Does he want to go to the market?
As you can see, using tu to indicate a question can be confused with the subject pronoun tu (you), but it serves the purpose of forming questions more quickly.
Words or phrases to use in French-speaking Canada
Though there are many differences in Québecois French, your French will be helpful in Canada, especially with those who are used to communicating with learners. Despite the proximity of the United States to Canada, students tend to learn Standard French in schools over Canadian French, unless they are very near the border where it’s more important to learn.
Greetings and polite conversation
| Québecois French | Standard/European French | English Meaning |
| Bienvenue! | De rien ! Je vous en prie | You’re welcome |
| Bonne journée! | Au revoir ! | Goodbye/good day |
| C’est amusant! | C’est le fun ! | It’s fun! |
| Il fait frette! | Il fait froid ! | It’s cold! |
Different words
We can’t list every vocabulary difference between French and Canadian French, but here are a few you’ll encounter:
| Canadian French | Standard/European French | English Meaning |
| des bas | des chaussette | socks |
| des souliers | des chaussures | shoes |
| la boucane | la fumée | smoke |
| la facteur | une addition | a bill/check (at a restaurant) |
| le soccer | le football, le foot | soccer, European football |
| les vidanges | les poubelles | garbage, trash, rubbish |
| un bicyclette (un bicyc) | un vélo | a bike |
| un breuvage | une boisson | a drink |
| un char | une voiture | a car |
| un chum | un copain | a boyfriend |
| un costume de bain | un maillot de bain | a bathing suit/swimsuit |
| une balayeuse | un aspirateur | a vacuum-cleaner |
| une blonde | une copine | a girlfriend |
| une camisole | un débardeur | a sleeveless t-shirt |
| une cellulaire | un portable | a cell phone |
| une débarbouillette | Une petite serviette/ Un gant de toilette | a washcloth/face cloth |
| une efface | une gomme | an eraser (from a pencil) |
| une laveuse | une machine à laver | a washing machine |
| une liqueur | une boisson gazeuse | a carbonated beverage |
| une pinotte | une cacahuète | a peanut |
| une sacoche | un sac à main | a handbag |
| une tuque | un bonnet | a beanie/wool hat |
Explore French in every region with Rosetta Stone
Whether you’re planning a trip, or just connecting with Canadian culture online, learning about the French in Canada will enrich your language learning experience. Just a bit of awareness of regional language differences helps us stay curious and ask questions to avoid too much confusion.
Navigate these common travel situations and more with ease. Rosetta Stone’s App has a Phrasebook that teaches you useful phrases related to dining out, getting around, health and safety, and more. Hear a native speaker pronounce each expression and practice saying them yourself, so you’ll be prepared for any real-world encounter no matter which French-speaking country you visit.
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