| Pages in topic: [1 2] > | Canadian vs European French Thread poster: aivars
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aivars 
Argentina
Local time: 00:05
English to Spanish
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Hi, I would like to know how significant the differences between Canadian French & French are. Written language I mean, not the pronunciaton.
Thanks a lot, I hope this is the right forum for the enquiry.
| | | | Nathalie M. Girard, ALHC (X)
English to French
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| There is quite a bit of difference and it varies... | Oct 14, 2002 |
Good morning,
There is a number of differences whether spoken or written, and the level of difference can vary slightly depending on the type of translation (because certain subject matters are a little more straigh forward and less litterary).
It\'s sort of like the English spoken/written in the UK, the US and the Caribbean...
The spanish spoken/written in Brazil, Cuba, Puerto Rico and Spain...
All have differen... See more Good morning,
There is a number of differences whether spoken or written, and the level of difference can vary slightly depending on the type of translation (because certain subject matters are a little more straigh forward and less litterary).
It\'s sort of like the English spoken/written in the UK, the US and the Caribbean...
The spanish spoken/written in Brazil, Cuba, Puerto Rico and Spain...
All have different flavors, some expressions are not regarded well in one country, while in the other it has a different meaning.
Did you have anything specific in mind?
This is a rather large topic...
Nathalie ▲ Collapse
| | | | | Spanish in Brazil (?) | Oct 14, 2002 |
Dear Nathalie,
I\'m sorry if I got your message wrong, but we don\'t speak/write Spanish in Brazil as an official language.
Brazil is a Portuguese-speaking country. As the discussion is about differences between one language spoken in more than one country, I should say that Brazilian Portuguese is remarkably different from European Portuguese, especially in terms of vocabulary. Some Brazilian soap operas have even been dubbed in European Portugu... See more Dear Nathalie,
I\'m sorry if I got your message wrong, but we don\'t speak/write Spanish in Brazil as an official language.
Brazil is a Portuguese-speaking country. As the discussion is about differences between one language spoken in more than one country, I should say that Brazilian Portuguese is remarkably different from European Portuguese, especially in terms of vocabulary. Some Brazilian soap operas have even been dubbed in European Portuguese before they were on in Portugal!
Best,
LfBrasil. ▲ Collapse
| | | | aivars
Argentina
Local time: 00:05
English to Spanish
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER | thx, first of all the spelling.. | Oct 14, 2002 |
Thx for your reply, for example, in Spanish there are no accents + characters, differences, no matter whether the Spanish comes from Cuba or Spain.
The pronounciation is different and of course the words and idioms.
I had the feeling the Canadian French & French have differences but not as much as the different Spanish versions let alone Chinese.
Any spelling/punctuation differences (as to all those types of accents)?
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EKM
Sweden
Local time: 05:05
English to Swedish
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| Language/dialect | Oct 14, 2002 |
This is indeed a huge subject - I don\'t claim to know anything about the differences between Canadian and European French, but regarding Chinese, it is obviously (as is often the case in language issues) a matter of politics what is defined as Chinese. Most non-Chinese liguists agree that we are dealing with different languages (e.g. in the case of Cantonese and Mandarin), and not dialects or variations of the same language. The unifying factor is the logographic writing system.
In t... See more This is indeed a huge subject - I don\'t claim to know anything about the differences between Canadian and European French, but regarding Chinese, it is obviously (as is often the case in language issues) a matter of politics what is defined as Chinese. Most non-Chinese liguists agree that we are dealing with different languages (e.g. in the case of Cantonese and Mandarin), and not dialects or variations of the same language. The unifying factor is the logographic writing system.
In the case of Swedish, Danish and Norwegian, the differences between some dialectal variations within some areas of Scandinavia are so small we are talking about mutually intelligible languages, and then the expression \"A language is a dialect with an army.\" seems very fitting. Had Scandinavia by historical coincidence been united under a common rule, there would no doubt have been a Scandinavian written standard for the region. Today, we persist in defining ourselves from each other. 
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| | | | Nathalie M. Girard, ALHC (X)
English to French
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| I tried replying earlier but my computer froze for some reason! | Oct 14, 2002 |
Good evening,
Just in for a quick reply (working on a deadline here)...
We all use the same accents (FR-CA and FR-Euro), but the European do not seem to like using accents on *capital* letters, even though it is a French grammar rule (don\'t ask me why they do not do it, I have no clue!)
Apart from that, it is the same in regards to accents.
The major difference is really in the selection of words and expressions... See more Good evening,
Just in for a quick reply (working on a deadline here)...
We all use the same accents (FR-CA and FR-Euro), but the European do not seem to like using accents on *capital* letters, even though it is a French grammar rule (don\'t ask me why they do not do it, I have no clue!)
Apart from that, it is the same in regards to accents.
The major difference is really in the selection of words and expressions. The vocabulary varies widely.
Parisians (especially) tend to use more anglicisms also.
HTH
Nathalie
P.s. My mistake about Brazil, of course, it is Portuguese!!! Although I have managed to be *understood* fairly well by Brazilians on a cruise a few years ago by speaking my vary limited Spanish (they did not speak any English at all)
[ This Message was edited by: on 2002-10-14 23:09 ] ▲ Collapse
| | | | | Some very minor differences | Oct 15, 2002 |
There are certain words that are spelled differently in Europe and in Canada.
Just off the top of my head:
Certain conjugations of the verb \"balayer\" (to sweep): where the Europeans use a double \"i\" exclusively, we\'ll accept either the double \"i\" or a \"y\".
\"Asseoir\" (to sit): the 2nd-person plural imperative is \"asseyez\" in Europe, either \"asseyez\"... See more There are certain words that are spelled differently in Europe and in Canada.
Just off the top of my head:
Certain conjugations of the verb \"balayer\" (to sweep): where the Europeans use a double \"i\" exclusively, we\'ll accept either the double \"i\" or a \"y\".
\"Asseoir\" (to sit): the 2nd-person plural imperative is \"asseyez\" in Europe, either \"asseyez\" or \"assoyez\" in Canada.
The Canadian variants in both cases are retained from older forms (meaning: that\'s the way they used to be spelled in Europe as well).
The grammar is *exactly* the same. Colloquial expressions, however, are markedly different, as well as deciding what, exactly, is colloquial and what is \"standard\" or \"plain\".
Pierre
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They also use different loan words from English,e.g. \"C\'est un joke\" and \'Je te présente mon chum\" (chum=boyfriend) for Canada but \"On va au staff\" to mean a meeting of senior staff physicians at a hospital, for example. EuroFrench also borrozs \"emali\" intact but the Canadians have nicely reduced \"courrier electronique\" to courriel.
This doesn\'t prevent speakers of the one from reproaching speakers of the other for selling out to the linguistic imperialism of English.
... See more They also use different loan words from English,e.g. \"C\'est un joke\" and \'Je te présente mon chum\" (chum=boyfriend) for Canada but \"On va au staff\" to mean a meeting of senior staff physicians at a hospital, for example. EuroFrench also borrozs \"emali\" intact but the Canadians have nicely reduced \"courrier electronique\" to courriel.
This doesn\'t prevent speakers of the one from reproaching speakers of the other for selling out to the linguistic imperialism of English.
In France at least, I\'m not sure how many people realise that English has preserved the Ancient French meanings of words it borrowed once upon a time. So ironically, when the French borrow it back, they\'re actually resuscitating a definition that zqs theirs to start with.
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Nathalie M. Girard, ALHC (X)
English to French
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Actually we say \"C\'tune joke\" (C\'est une joke)
But true, we borrow back and forth through the centuries it seems... I guess we just do not borrow the same things so we end-up with a lot of differences in how we express ourselves in French on both sides of the Atlantic!
Going to bed, been a long hard day (of work!)... \"ch\'tassez fatiqué làawww!!!\"
hehehe... ... See more Actually we say \"C\'tune joke\" (C\'est une joke)
But true, we borrow back and forth through the centuries it seems... I guess we just do not borrow the same things so we end-up with a lot of differences in how we express ourselves in French on both sides of the Atlantic!
Going to bed, been a long hard day (of work!)... \"ch\'tassez fatiqué làawww!!!\"
hehehe... nighty night folks!
Nathalie qui déconne!  ▲ Collapse
| | | | | Fôt bien déconner de tenz'en ten, ça fait moins plate. | Oct 15, 2002 |
| | | | | "Courriel" -- Canadien seulement? | Oct 15, 2002 |
J\'ai repondu recemment \"merci pour votre courriel\" à un français. (Et puis j\'ai vu *Can* dans mon dictionnaire...) Ai-je fait une grande gaffe?
[addsig]
| | | | Nathalie M. Girard, ALHC (X)
English to French
+ ...
| The word courriel is indeed *born* in Canada :-) | Oct 15, 2002 |
And not so much used (at the moment) in Europe...
Either the recipient of your message will find it *pretty* (as many Euro-French often get a real \"kick\" from some of the words that Canadian French natives use), or well... it just depends on the person I guess.
But indeed, the word is basically used in Canada at the moment, and I hope it will catch on elsewhere.
I find it *pretty*
... See more And not so much used (at the moment) in Europe...
Either the recipient of your message will find it *pretty* (as many Euro-French often get a real \"kick\" from some of the words that Canadian French natives use), or well... it just depends on the person I guess.
But indeed, the word is basically used in Canada at the moment, and I hope it will catch on elsewhere.
I find it *pretty*
Nathalie ▲ Collapse
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| Pretty and short... | Oct 16, 2002 |
With my US (was going to say American) mania for conciseness, I prefer one word to two (courrier electronique). And \"mel\" sounds so wrong.
| | | | | En réponse à Nathalie | Oct 16, 2002 |
Chère Nathalie
La grammaire française ne permet pas d\'acentuer les majuscules pour des raisons qui remontent à la typographie d\'antan. Il était impossible à cette époque-là de fabriquer des types majuscules accentués. C\'est pourquoi les premières imprimantes à aiguilles donnaient des lettres majuscules accentuées de la même taille que les non accentuées.
En ce qui concerne \"courriel\", je l\'utilise systématiquement. Une autre expressi... See more Chère Nathalie
La grammaire française ne permet pas d\'acentuer les majuscules pour des raisons qui remontent à la typographie d\'antan. Il était impossible à cette époque-là de fabriquer des types majuscules accentués. C\'est pourquoi les premières imprimantes à aiguilles donnaient des lettres majuscules accentuées de la même taille que les non accentuées.
En ce qui concerne \"courriel\", je l\'utilise systématiquement. Une autre expression que j\'ai empruntée des \"cousins\" du Québec est \"Droits de la personne\"\", car je me refuse à utiliser \"droits humains\", de même que \"graticiel\" et autres copies conformes de l\'anglais.
Bien sûr, il y a des différences entre le français \"québecois\" et le français \"métropolitain\", mais tout texte bien écrit est lu et compris sans problème des deux côtés de l\'Atlantique.
Amicalement
Bruno Magne ▲ Collapse
| | | | | Here are some sites with information | Oct 16, 2002 |
| | | | | Pages in topic: [1 2] > | To report site rules violations or get help, contact a site moderator: You can also contact site staff by submitting a support request » Canadian vs European French | Trados Business Manager Lite | Create customer quotes and invoices from within Trados Studio
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