Quote:Setanta wrote:
I learned conversational French from West Africans. Their pronunciaiton and accent is rather good, but still noticeable. The most signal characteristic of their use of French is that when confronted with a situation in which they do not know the common expression for something, they will make up a comprehensible expression on the spot. Were you to criticize them for it, they'd just laugh and invite you, with a smile, to join the conversation.
Setanta,
The pronunciation of native speakers of any language [save those with speech impediments] can't be anything less than perfect. Accents are noticeable because certain accents develop in certain areas. In English we have many different accents, so too with French or Spanish or Chinese or Japanese.
When people learn a language, it isn't a set of commandments handed down from the country of origin. These people weren't making up comprehensible expressions, they would only be doing what you do all the time, in your AmE; express things in the manner your language has shown you.
You wouldn't think for a moment of checking with McTag or Clary before speaking. Just as you know what to say in AmE, so it is with these speakers. They know exactly what to say in the French they speak.
Setanta wrote: There are significant francophone minorities in Ontario, Alberta, Manitoba, Saskatchewan (les Fransaskois) and British Columbia.
While there are programs to increase the number of people who speak French, I'd suggest that 'significant' is a bit of a stretch, especially for the western provinces you cited, Setanta.
