Montreal and language problems

This weekend was iDSC 2007. It is the 2007 international dental student's conference and this year it was held in Montreal by the university of Montreal. In First Year, I said that I would go to the conferences if they were held in Montreal or Halifax.

So I headed out there early on Tuesday.

I was kinda stoked to go to use my French once again. For those who don't know, I took French Immersion all the way until Grade 9. I then took FLA in High school for 3 years. I have been able to use my French in France twice and it came in handy many times. Though some people had to speak slower for me, they always had the patience to listen to me. I never really had a bad language experience in France ever.

In Montreal, the circumstances are completely different. It is likely the most Bilingual city in all of Canada. The people speak to you initially in French and assume you are French, but when they realize that you can't speak French, they just speak to you in English. So I thought that my French was going to be more than sufficient. There is always this stereotype that people in Quebec will look down on you if you don't know any French. I wasnted to prove them wrong. I also wanted to use it so that I don't lose anymore than I already have.

It turns out that I was wasting my time. People began to quickly realize that my French wasn't Québecquoise and then just spoke in English. One person even said to me "will it just be easier to do this in English?". After all, it was easier when I began to speak in English again, but to me, that wasn't the point. I was trying to speak with them in their language so they didn't have to speak to me in English. The French I learned is also different from that in Quebec. I learned French French from France. There is a lot more grammar and structure to it. Quebec French has been left to evolve ever since the day that the Franch lost on the Plains of Abraham and left les habitants to fend themselves against Les Anglais. It is still French but it's different. There is a lot more slang in it than normal French. It's more of a conversational French than I ever learned or could possibly learn being in French Immersion. To them, I was speaking differently than the French they know so of course they were going to have trouble understanding me. It's not what they are used to, and I was speaking it badly!

That left me depressed. It meant that I know how to speak a version of French that really isn't even used in my own country! What good is that? It basically meant that unless I could understand and answer the problem easily, I didn't try to speak in French. It wasn't worth their time or my frustration.

The only way that I can once again to speak more French is to totally immerse myself in French culture...and that won't happen anytime soon.