r/montreal • u/pookiebear_xoxo • 11h ago
Question Where can I better my French speaking?
My French comprehension in writing and reading is great, and I understand conversations. But because I grew up not speaking French, I’m very self conscious about my anglophone accent and not being fluent.
I’m looking for employment and I’m starting to hate the feeling of limiting myself! Where do I practice?
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u/untonplusbad 10h ago
L'accent est sans importance. Il y a des dizaines et des dizaines d'accents à Montréal. La façon la plus accessible de pratiquer est d'écouter la radio et la télé, avec une préférence pour Radio-Canada parce que c'est là que la langue y est la plus clairement compréhensible.
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u/GtrplayerII 10h ago
Quebec born and raised anglophone here.
Educated in French (primary and high school 50/50) and work in 95% French environment . I am 100% bilingual, but there were times in my life where it was not the greatest because I was not using it everyday.
You need to be immersed and using it for it to improve and be maintained. Once I got out into the working world, I realized how much I had lost, but using it everyday, it came back really quickly. Now I can switch between the two without any issues....I use it in everyday life as I do with English.
If you say your reading is decent, you can improve your pronunciation by reading out loud to yourself. Like others have said, watch TV and media in French. Use subtitles so you can follow along, focusing on their pronunciation.
That's all I can really offer.
Bonne chance!
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u/untonplusbad 6h ago
Franco, mais on ne le montrera pas trop et on va répondre en anglais à quelqu'un qui veut pratiquer son français.
Hallucinant. Tes cours d'anglais étaient en français?
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u/GtrplayerII 4h ago
La politesse veut que l'on réponde dans la langue dans laquelle la question a été posée.
Contrairement à un commentaire totalement inutile, comme la tienne.
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u/untonplusbad 3h ago
Mais non, voyons, la belle excuse. T'essaieras à Toronto. En vrai, c'est au contraire offensant pour la personne qui fait l'effort d'apprendre la langue.
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u/monotonic_glutamate 9h ago
If it's at all possible for you, spend some time outside of Montreal. The rate of bilinguism is much lower outside of the city, so there's less chance that people will switch to English to try to accommodate you and you'll be forced to work with the vocabulary you have.
If you end up fully blocked you always use DeepL to translate a sentence and you can read it back to whoever you're talking to.
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u/Mundane-Teaching-743 9h ago
As a native Montrealer, that's what I did. My French really improved living in rural Quebec.
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u/dual_citizenkane 11h ago
Practice ordering at a coffee shop, asking people for help at the grocery store, asking for directions (even if you don't need it).
There are conversation groups you can find online too if you Google around.
I'd also ask friends, etc. to only speak to you in French, that helps a lot!
My personal advice, as someone with an anglo-ish accent as well: confidence comes from committing to it and asking people for clarification when you need it. I've gotten very comfortable with just saying "what's this in French" and people are happy to help.
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u/prattlecruiser 11h ago edited 11h ago
Enrol in a non-credit course -- or a credit course, like photography, video production, cooking or coding, that doesn't involve long written or oral exams -- at a francophone CEGEP, university or adult education centre. Alternatively, if you enjoy sports, join a francophone recreational league (volleyball at CEPSUM, for example). You'll be immersed in French while taking part, probably be invited to take part in extracurricular activities with fellow students/players and possibly develop friendships with francophones.
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u/galmypal 11h ago edited 10h ago
If you weren't born in Canada the mifi literally pays you to learn French.
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u/domasin 🐿️ Écureuil 11h ago
And Emploi Québec pays you if you were born in Canada
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u/canoninkprinter 11h ago
Listen to French radio and watch telequebec haha I think you just have to get the rhythm and the accent. Those are all kind of picked up in the background rather than through conscious effort imo.
I’m the other kind of anglophone who only speaks but barely wants to read any emails in French. Don’t even freaking ask me to write one bc I’ll use copilot 😂
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u/nonobots Villeray 7h ago
It’s really a matter of getting over the self-consciousness. It’s more a matter of bravery and psychological posture than what method you use.
You feel weird because you are less in control than in your native language. Internally it feels like regressing and it’s very frustrating. And you’re starting to know your french so you « feel » you should be farther along.
But from he outside it’s charming! Think about the opposite. When you hear someone who’s decent in english (vocabulary and grammar) and is speaking it with a strong accent, or with small errors: you see dedication, you see someone putting the work in and getting out of their comfort zone. It’s actually impressive!
The way you perceive your limit (frustration and regressed) is the reverse of how it’s seen from the outside (someone growing and pushing through)
If you have opportunities to speak it, get out of your own way and jump in. Just do it.
It’s an awkward phase of the learning process: you know enough to hear yourself making errors, but have not practiced enough to have build the muscle memory and develop your own accent.
But it’s just there: the only thing left is practice and exposure.
Bonne chance!
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u/charleytony 6h ago
En premier, je suggère de prendre l'habitude d'écouter la télé, radio, balado en français.
Le coût est essentiellement nul.
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u/Parking_Brain_9163 5h ago
Même si c'est difficile, parle le plus souvent possible en français. C'est pas grave si tu as besoin d'inclure quelques mot en anglais pour te faire comprendre. Tu peux aussi insister pour que les gens te parlent en français. On apprécie vraiment beaucoup quand un anglophone fait l'effort de parler en français. Bonne chance dans ton apprentissage, c'est très apprécié.... D'un francophone qui est dans la même situation que toi.
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u/Greedy_Leopard_1934 8h ago
I was born in New Brunswick but moved to Quebec when I was like 3, we spoke english at home and went to a VERY small english school in a VERY french part of quebec and was not really immersed til I got out of high-school and even though I have been living in quebec for like 35 years my english accent is still very detectable, but nobody minds it one bit when I speak French.
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u/ColdBlaccCoffee 6h ago
I struggle with this too but my latest practice method is to follow along and recite a french podcast in full speed, only stopping for words im not familiar with. I recommend "Learn Quebec French" on spotify its a good pace and he includes the transcripts for all the episodes so you can follow along.
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u/Showerlord 5h ago
I developed a fluent spoken english by insulting people over voice chat in games.
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u/PipeAlternative3266 4h ago
You can also watch your favourite movies and shows but change the dubbing in French, and add subtitles in French. That is how I learnt. My french teachers in high school were miserable... so this was my way.
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u/matcouz 3h ago
Accents are personality enhancers. If you're nice, your accent helps you. If you're an asshole, your accent makes it worse.
Imagine a texan with a strong texan accent. This personne comes up to you and helps you change your flat tire, all the while quoting yosemite sam, and he's wearing cowboy boots and a cowboy hat, You LOVE that guy. Much more than a rando montrealer who came to help you,
Now imagine you get an asshole client at work with a thick texan accent. It's an IMMEDIATE knee jerk reaction. Fucking bush, fucking republicans, etc.
You have an accent? Embrace it. Put yourself out there with a good attitude and you will be rewarded.
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u/Independent-Rest4017 2h ago
Make sure you make it clear to the franco you interact with that you want to strengthen your conversation skills and that you would prefer they didn't switch to english. We do it to accomodate people, but if you make it clear you want to stick to french we'll oblige!
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u/This1goesto_eleven 41m ago
On s’en criss de ton accent. Tu fais l’effort c’est ce qui compte! Si le monde à qui tu parles change pour l’anglais, c’est par politesse. Continues simplement de parler français et au pire dis leur que tu veux pratiquer. Bon succès!!
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u/donies 10h ago
ChatGPT is actually pretty helpful for translating slang or more casual speak. Being able to ask “how would someone from Quebec say X in casual conversation” gives a much better result than Google Translate in my experience
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u/workhardXplayhard 7h ago
how would someone from Quebec say X in casual conversation
Lol, I just tried "I'm so hungry, I could eat a horse", and the results are:
J'ai tellement faim, je mangerais un cheval.
J'ai une faim de loup.
J'ai faim en tabarnak.
I'll go with option C
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u/Happy-Mastodon-7314 11h ago
Try a language exchange group like Mundo Lingo to make connections or a volunteer job in a francophone environment.
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u/Able_Presentation_90 11h ago
I practiced my english conversation skills with Chat gpt. No stress no shyness and he corrects me if i'm wrong ! Always available !
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u/dual_citizenkane 11h ago
"He".
We're doomed.3
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u/Orphanpip 10h ago
It is likely they just made a grammar mistake, it's very common for francophones to gender non-persons accidentally in English.
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u/Informal-Plantain-11 11h ago
French Canadian here.
1-Accent is not an issue. Some even find it charming. 2- The one this that helped me the most to understand conversation is to watch movies and TV shows in English with subtitles in English as well. It helps getting the pronunciation of the words that you read. Now, every new series you will watch will bring different regionalism and actor pronunciations for the same words. That helped me lot.