I was sitting in an airport bistro in San Francisco the other day reading a magazine when some people came in and sat at the bar behind me. I didn't pay much attention, but after a while I noticed that they were speaking a foreign language. As I usually do, I tried to figure out what it was. Hmm . . . it was not unattractive, not particularly guttural . . . Eastern European, perhaps? Yes, definitely from that part of the world. Possibly even Serbo-Croatian.
But then I noticed that a key feature of the language was the word "Lo," which seemed to be tacked on to just about everything they said. Interesting, thought I, kind of like the "desu" at the end of Japanese sentences or the "nida" in Korean.
I thought no more about it and returned to the magazine.
When I checked in at the gate, I noticed that the same four people who were at the bar were checking in as well! Serbo-Croatians going to Montreal? How odd. They spoke perfect English to the agent, almost accentless. And then I heard it: the giveaway. One of them said "Dere." My god, they're Québecois, I realised. Then I listened more closely.
" . . . an ce maman lo lo," one of them was saying, and after about a minute I realised she had been saying "En ce moment là . . ." and then someone said "Oh lo lo, c'est dzuur . . ." of course meaning "Oh-la-la, c'est dur . . . "
Well, it was a revelation. I speak pretty good French, but I was taught it by Belgians, who sound a bit like Parisians. Since I hadn't been expecting Québec French, I just assumed it was some foreign language that I couldn't speak. And now I realise that's quite true! Half the time at the grocery store I don't have a clue what the bag guy is saying to me when he says "Tsu vuy an sac?"
I'm learning, but I still say "deess" instead of "diss" when I say "dix," or "pah sa" instead of "po so" when I say "pas ça." It must sound quite quaint.
Tsu camprain s'q' j' dis, lo?
this is sooooooooooooo funny!!!!! i somehow think that the quebec accent is very charming and friendly. although v difficult to understand (my french teacher in HK was from paris - when i first arrived in montreal, i couldnt understand a single word people on the street/in the store/on TV said (that is if they spoke to me in french at all - they tended to shift to english when they saw an asian)). on the day i left montreal 4.5 years later, it was better - i could undestand two words (max.) per sentence! HAHA! quebecois "swallowed" a lot of sounds. it's indeed very challenging for non-native speakers who have learned french outside of quebec.
ReplyDeletedespite the big listening problem, at the end of my stay there, i actually picked up some rather strong quebec accent for my minimal french...and i found it to be v cool, speaking quebecois!
but i just cant imagine you thought they were speaking serbo-croatian!!!