A question for Canadians: How common is it for a Canadian to be fluent in French?

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Cabochick23

It really has to do with what part of Canada you live in. Most Canadians that live in NB, Quebec speak French only or French and English, most Canadians that live in BC or AB speak English only, and rarely any French. Because Ottawa is our Capital there are many who are billigual equally. Also, most gov't workers near the capital are expected to be able to speak both languages fluently. Se la vie!

scjazzguitar

Eastern Canada is more French and Western side is more English. They teach it in all the schools and the signs are often in both French and English. I know a lot of people in Vancouver and on the west side of Canada that can't speak any French.

.:::Niko:::.

French is the mother tongue of about 6.7 million Canadians (23% of the Canadian population)While most native French speakers in Canada live in Quebec, where it is the majority language, about one million native francophones live in other provinces, forming sizeable minorities in Ontario, New Brunswick and Manitoba and significantly smaller communities in Saskatchewan and Alberta. Many, but not all, of these communities are supported by French-language institutions

thinkingtime

Fluency is debatable. Canadians learn French in school and most can order a cup of coffee in the language. However, truly fluent, able to live and work in both languages is less usual.

Flames Fan

I live in the west, you dont have to speak french here at all.

In the east its a different story..i think.

Bob D

Considering there are 40,000,000 Canadians with no more than 3-4,000,000 considered fluently bilingual, it is actually not that common except as the first responder pointed out, in Quebec, most of New Brunswick, parts of Nova Scotia and Manitoba but there are just English speaking in those areas as well. And the French varies , Quebec French is different than New Brunswick French which is different than N.S. and Manitoba French and they all differ from the French spoken in France. There are common words in all but expressions take on regional overtones, Shaq French, Acadienne French, Quebecois French, Metis French can be hard to understand even between these different Frenches. So to answer your question, it is not all that common for a Canadian to be French, but that is also what makes us unique.

Joe Iwojima

when i was in Vancouver they all speak the US dollor and are real nice folks. Vancouver seems more a part of the US than Canada and i kidded many of them about becoming part of the US and they just smiled and laughed.

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