Ariel Helwani nails French interview on LIVE radio

[freakyfarley]

Canadian French is so different from EU (France, Belgium) French

 

[Goldentrophy]

Es-tu sérieux?

In fact, I never met anyone who could't speak English in Montreal.


Plenty of places I encountered people who are unable to speak english in Montreal. St.Michel,Fabre(not the Italians in those areas) Honoré Beaugrand and especially Cadillac where my girlfriend works who is bilingual and she has to serve the rare english customers where she works since the other employee's can't speak english.


But I'm interested in hearing Ariel speaking french since I never heard him speak it before

 

[Strange Shadows]

belgiums sound like hillbillies

 

[Metal_Daze]

much respect to anyone who speaks more than one language fluently.

even the foreign (foreign to u.s.) fighters who speak fractured english have my respect.

I agree. It would be hypocritical not to point out how difficult it is to ignore English-speaking culture while it is fairly easy (and common) for English-speaking people to completely ignore French culture.

That doesn't mean English is easier to learn: we are just compelled to learn it because every good movie, every good song, every good book is in English. You should see our French-speaking entertainment here in Québec, it's atrocious.

Celine Dion is our diva for crying out loud!

 

[bungyo]

Definitely worthy of a thread.

 

[Strange Shadows]

I agree. It would be hypocritical not to point out how difficult it is to ignore English-speaking culture while it is fairly easy (and common) for English-speaking people to completely ignore French culture.

That doesn't mean English is easier to learn: we are just compelled to learn it because every good movie, every good song, every good book is in English. You should see our French-speaking entertainment here in Québec, it's atrocious.

Celine Dion is our diva for crying out loud!

i was watching french tv once and my gf at the time said they had 'mandated a certain amount of hours for french only programing'. the french programs were stupid fucking talk shows. war american culture.

 

[Finnish Fan]

I agree. It would be hypocritical not to point out how difficult it is to ignore English-speaking culture while it is fairly easy (and common) for English-speaking people to completely ignore French culture.

No worries, the French culture is extremely easy to ignore as well for every other language culture.

Unless of course one specifically wants to learn the language of surrender.

 

[Metal_Daze]

Plenty of places I encountered people who are unable to speak english in Montreal. St.Michel,Fabre(not the Italians in those areas) Honoré Beaugrand and especially Cadillac where my girlfriend works who is bilingual and she has to serve the rare english customers where she works since the other employee's can't speak english.

But I'm interested in hearing Ariel speaking french since I never heard him speak it before

You're right, I spoke out of line. There are many people who can't speak or understand English in Montreal. I just ignore them and never go where they hang out. Most of my friends are either college educated (which means instant understanding of English) or deeply involved in music business, which is pretty much the same.

I'm sure these people exist but admit it: it takes a very big effort to ignore English-speaking culture in Montreal. The contrary is common: it's easy to ignore French-speaking culture and still live in Montreal. That doesn't mean you don't know what a poutine is: someone who never listens to French music, never watches French movies and doesn't laugh at French humor is doing just that: ignoring French culture. I'm pretty sure Ariel fits in that description.

Just like what I said about understanding an English song: I have tons of friends, I'm 40 years old and I have never met anyone who cannot understand an English song. Except my father, who's 75 years old.

As for Ariel, he was great for someone who never speaks French.

 

[Metal_Daze]

i was watching french tv once and my gf at the time said they had 'mandated a certain amount of hours for french only programing'. the french programs were stupid fucking talk shows. war american culture.

Radio is the same: unless they're a English-only channel, they HAVE to put a certain amount of French music, what they call quotas.

It's so horrible that radio stations have been fighting these quotas for years but nothing's changed yet. Thanks the Internet for that!

 

[aichokyu]

clicked on the link, but no ariel, was the livestream.
no offense to our canadian friends, but their accent is so unpleasant for a france's french speaker, eww

 

[Metal_Daze]

Canadian French is so different from EU (France, Belgium) French

Not really. The biggest difference is in the vocabulary and the accent. We pronounce "z" after a "d" when the next letter is a "i". We pronounce "s" after a "d" when the next letter is a "u". We use religious curse words instead of sexual curse words.

That's about it.

 

[DaleBoca]

From what I've been told Quebec French is equivalent to hillbilly English. More so, they've got such an ugly accent that the French really dislike them.

 

[Metal_Daze]

clicked on the link, but no ariel, was the livestream.
no offense to our canadian friends, but their accent is so unpleasant for a france's french speaker, eww

Just what I was saying in my previous post! You do realize it's the same for us: French people sound weird to us, it's like they speak from the Académie Française all the time. For us, pronouncing the "d" and "t" like French people is a sign of conformism, a thing you got to do if you want a job on national television. I don't know what's the opinion on the Académie Française in France but here in Québec, we think it's snob and self-righteous.

At least Dany Laferrière will shake the institution if they give him the chance!

 

[Metal_Daze]

From what I've been told Quebec French is equivalent to hillbilly English. More so, they've got such an ugly accent that the French really dislike them.

Apt comparison but hillbilly English has very poor vocabulary while Québec's vocabulary is not that different from France's French. It all in the delivery and the curse words. They don't really know what our curse words stand for because they have rejected religion for so long, they don't remember what a "calice" is. They know what's an "Hostie" and a "Tabernacle" but they would never use these words as insults.

We emancipated ourselves from religion in the late 60s. It was bound to have an impact on our newly created culture!

 

[machidafan99]

he's still will always be a shill

 

[ThulsaDooom]

I'm not impressed by your performance -Kenny Florian


Seriously though,who gives a fuck if someone can speak a little bit of a different language?

The world would be a much better place if everyone learned a few foreign languages. It's tough and takes a long time and a lot of hard work unless you have a natural gift. I'm 1.5 languages deep and hope to get up to 5 before I die. Unfortunately, I chose one of the hardest ones for my first non-native language. Props to Ariel for doing an interview in another language.

 

[freakyfarley]

Not really. The biggest difference is in the vocabulary and the accent. We pronounce "z" after a "d" when the next letter is a "i". We pronounce "s" after a "d" when the next letter is a "u". We use religious curse words instead of sexual curse words.

That's about it.

I hear more differences but alright.

 

[Goldentrophy]

You're right, I spoke out of line. There are many people who can't speak or understand English in Montreal. I just ignore them and never go where they hang out. Most of my friends are either college educated (which means instant understanding of English) or deeply involved in music business, which is pretty much the same.

I'm sure these people exist but admit it: it takes a very big effort to ignore English-speaking culture in Montreal. The contrary is common: it's easy to ignore French-speaking culture and still live in Montreal. That doesn't mean you don't know what a poutine is: someone who never listens to French music, never watches French movies and doesn't laugh at French humor is doing just that: ignoring French culture. I'm pretty sure Ariel fits in that description.

Just like what I said about understanding an English song: I have tons of friends, I'm 40 years old and I have never met anyone who cannot understand an English song. Except my father, who's 75 years old.

As for Ariel, he was great for someone who never speaks French.

At the same time though in Montreal I know plenty of people who can't speak french at all, areas like Cavendish,Cote des neige,Westmount etc come to mind.

But I agree it does take a big effort to ignore english speaking culture especially with the younger generation you're bound to have a francophone that has a band,movie or music they listen to in english where as a purely english person in most cases would have no french speaking influence.

I want to hear Ariel to see if his french is better than mine and if so I'll be so pissed since he's been out of Montreal for so long but from how you described the way he spoke it sounds like me where I comprehend french great but communicating is my weaker side but I'm still bilingual regardless.

 

[Hazuki Ryo]

From what I've been told Quebec French is equivalent to hillbilly English. More so, they've got such an ugly accent that the French really dislike them.

I am French and actually people from Quebec preserve French language better. They translate every movie title : while in France "Scary Movie" stays "Scary Movie", in Quebec it is "Film de Peur".

So yeah i guess we make a little bit fun of them (but in a nice way) cause they use such an old vocabulary that only existed in ancient french. They also have a funny accent that, coming from a hot girl for instance, can be quite surprising.

We love them actually (plus girls seem to be way more upfront over there, which is quite nice. Maybe @Metal_Daze will confirm that)

 

[Daweed]

Not really. The biggest difference is in the vocabulary and the accent. We pronounce "z" after a "d" when the next letter is a "i". We pronounce "s" after a "d" when the next letter is a "u". We use religious curse words instead of sexual curse words.

That's about it.

As a frenchman myself, I couldn't disagree more. I can hardly understand French Quebec, even when I'm trying to focus on what the person is saying to me. It's almost two entirely different languages.

Here in France we think your accent sounds completely retarded, like it was some medieval peasant french with an english accent. Even the hot women you have (yeah you have some) are hardly fuckable once you've heard them speak. Quebec accent = biggest tue l'amour ever


Also the way Quebec is literary translating every American movie is so dumb, "Fiction Pulpeuse" for crying out loud