Is it better to go to Quebec than France to learn French?

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sotires

You didn't say where you live.
Well, if you live in London, you can just jump on a Eurostar train to get to Paris. If you live in Michigan, it's not far to Canada. If you live in Miami, maybe you could even consider going to Haiti (but tourist facilities may not be very good there). Or you could consider parts of Louisiana.

I've only been to Quebec once. But I found it pretty beautiful. It's big and depends where you go.
The way I see it, here are a couple of points you should take into account:
1) Where is effective for learning French.
The answer is both. The accent is different. But unless you learn young, you probably won't get away from your American (or English) accent, so it doesn't really matter. You will end up with a mixture of American and Quebec accent.
Also take into account that many French people find a Quebec accent rather cute. Plus it will take attention away from your American accent.
If you want a really different accent, think about going to Marseilles.
In any case, the accent tends to be not so strong in the middle class.
Around here (Paris region), the kids change their accent when they are at school or outside.
In short, it's not really a problem. Think of the differences between London and New York.
2) Cost. Depends on where you stay: with a family, in a school, hostel. Plus school fees, organisation fees, etc. What kind of programme you are on, and how you intend to spend your leisure time. It's up to you to do your sums.
3) Where you will enjoy yourself more (pleasure helps learning).. This really depends on who you will be staying with.
Living with a family will be a great way of getting better contact with the country.

â™Ą

Different dialects.. go to Paris. It will be a better experience and you will learn more of the correct french than the dialect in Canada.

It would be much better to learn french in France. I am french myself and I have to say I have a hard time understanding what they say when they speak French to me! Lots (lots an dlots) of expressions are different and obviously the accent very much different but you would find that in France itself as well. We have TV programs from Quebec in France and they have to use subtitles for us to understand!! But Quebec and its people are lovely. My cousins have been living there for 4 years and they love it (now that they got used to the language difference!)

If you go to QuĂ©bec go to the town of QuĂ©bec, not MontrĂ©al, because the accent of QuĂ©bec is more neutral than the accent of MontrĂ©al. And it is very beautiful, it ressembles the Bretagne in France. And too, MontrĂ©al is bilingual but QuĂ©bec they speak French only so it's better for learn French.

Rillifane

I learned French in Montreal during my years as a student at McGill University. The accent is, indeed, somewhat different and there are differences both in vocabulary and grammar.

However, its not much more than the difference between New York and Texas English.

Clearly, its a lot cheaper to go to Canada than to France so I'd suggest Quebec.

bradwelljackson

I've heard that the French dialect in Quebec is quite a bit different and that people in France have trouble understanding it.

gabrieldann

Yes, Quebec speaks French. I don't know exactely where you live (if it is the US or) but you cab get really cheap offers from the US to Europe which sometimes are cheaper than flying from the US to Canada. You could save there. As for where to go, you should check the amount of time and the budget you have for the two weeks you have been talking about. i would recommend you to check the prices of language programs in both countries. Sometimes they include living with a family and then you might save on meals in this way. If france is what you really want to see then try to go there since there is not better motivation than learning a language in a country you feel admiration for. language and Culture are linked, so analyze all the situations, your budget and what you really want to see and go for it.

Gabo from Costa Rica (language teacher and traveller by heart :)

paixfpn

my advice is to come to france, but avoid paris as it's expensive and you won't be able to speak french a lot there. look at l'alliance francaise--they have schools in many large cities. i studied at one in bordeaux and really loved it.

the french generally make fun of canadian "french" b/c their accent is so awful there.

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