If my ancestry is "French Canadian", does that mean it's European French also?

Question

I asked a similar question and got a lot of angry responses, so I'll ask again and rephrase it, with a bit more explanation.

Since French Canadians originated from European French colonists, does that mean that someone with French Canadian ancestry can also trace their roots even further back to France?

A lot of people got the wrong impression the first time I asked this, thinking I was insulting Canadians. But, the reason I'm asking is because I'm incredibly interested in genealogy, culture, and language. I enjoy tracing my roots back as far as they can possibly go.

But, the main reason I'm asking is because of language. All throughout middle and high school, I took Spanish...which made my father pretty upset. Although Spanish is more widely spoken in my area, he told me that I should be taking French. He said that I should be learning the language of our people, our family.

It's been years since high school and now I want to learn French on my own. The problem is, in my research of the French language, I learned that there's a pretty distinct difference between the Canadian French language/dialect/whatever and the way people speak in France. (I've heard many European French people say that even though they can understand Canadian French, it still sounds strange.) My immediate family is mostly French Canadian...however, I'm much more attracted to the European dialects of the French language.

So essentially, my question is, can I learn "French" French instead of "Canadian" French and still have it be considered "the language of my people"?

I know what you're thinking. "If your family is French Canadian, then you should learn Canadian French." Am I right?

Well, communication with my family wouldn't be a problem, since the last French speaker in my family, my grandmother, died. So, no one in my family speaks French anymore. And on top of that, it's only my father's side that's French and I don't really have contact with anyone on my father's side anymore. So, I'm not doing it for them...I'm doing it for myself and I personally happen to be more attracted to European French. I just want to know if it can still be considered part of my ancestry.

Answer 1

At one point in time one or more of your ancestors in French Canada (New France before the English defeated the French during the Seven Years War, called the French and Indian War in the USA) and claimed France's territory in Canada, may have emigrated from France. French speakers from countries other than France also emigrated to New France/Canada.



It can be a challenge tracing ones Quebecois (Quebecer or French Canadian) ancestry to France, however. So far, I have not succeeded in doing that, anyway. One of the big challenges is changes in name spellings (because non-French speakers spelled the names phonetically in records), "dit" names (someone with one surname being called something else, like a nickname, and that nickname sticking as the surname), inaccurate transcriptions of records written in French because the handwriting may be difficult to read, and in Quebec province many life event records (birth/christening, marriage, and death/funeral/burial) being kept by the Catholic church parishes and not recorded in civil registrations.



As for me, I studied French through 4 years of high school and into college, ending up with a minor in French in college. The French taught was the "more proper Parisian" French. My high school French teacher was originally from Belgium, by the way. The French my Quebecois father spoke had a different "accent" and different pronunciation of words than I learned. Keep in mind the French of French speaking Canada is much more like the French spoken in 17th and 18th century France than the language spoken in France today. That is like the English spoken in parts of the USA is much more like the English spoken in 17th and 18th century England, Scotland, Wales or Ireland than how it is spoken in the British Isles "homeland" today. For the most part, today the written languages are the same - the French of Canada and the French of France. Learning the "Parisian" pronunciation vs. the Canadian French pronunciation is no big deal.



When I first visited Montreal and Quebec province when I was 18, the local French speakers were very kind and helped me with pronunciation and vocabulary. I'm sure it didn't hurt that I could tell them my father was a Quebecois. Plus, I was young, cute and trim. :-) One restaurant owner was so nice, especially after knowing I was of French Canadian ancestry, he gave me great tourist tips. It was like I was a long lost relative. How nice! Besides, it was great to finally see a lot of people who looked a lot like I did in height and coloring.



Plus, throughout my life I've been able to use my French language knowledge to voluntarily help visitors in the USA. I once helped translate for a German tourist, who knew some English and better French. I translated from his French to Spanish and back, with someone in the USA whose main language was Spanish. My French and Spanish language teachers would have been proud! It didn't matter that I learned my French from a native speaker from Belgium and my Spanish from a native speaker from Madrid Spain and also a native speaker from the USA - both who taught differing pronunciations.



Anyway, embrace your Quebecois ancestry and learn as much as you can about it.



Well, that is probably WAY MORE than you care to know. :-)



Best wishes / Meilleurs voeux

Answer 2

If my ancestry is "French Canadian", does that mean it's European French also? Since French Canadians originated from European French colonists, does that mean that someone with French Canadian ancestry can also trace their roots even further back to France?



- Not necessarily. It's more than likely, but there are some (few, rare) folks that grew up French Canadian that don't have ancestry in France. To know for sure genealogists will encourage you to do the research and not rely on social affiliations or current geography.





Can I learn "French" French instead of "Canadian" French and still have it be considered "the language of my people"?



-There's nothing wrong with learning the standard French dialect. It will be helpful in life and you'll be better able to communicate with a variety of Francophones. There's nothing wrong with learning any language you want. Heck, learn 4 languages! French is the language of your people, it is not the dialect of your people. "Your people" would be those in your modern place and time that you are affiliated with and share history with. From your explanation you have no personal or immediate ties to France. But so what? I don't have any ties to Spain, but I took Spanish in college. Don't let that stop you from learning anything you want!



I know what you're thinking. "If your family is French Canadian, then you should learn Canadian French." Am I right?



Nope, wrong. What I'm thinking is you might want to (I won't say should) learn both.

Answer 3

Canadian Ancestry

Answer 4

These days you can learn how to speak French over the internet. Check out this online course, it's voted as the best French online course of all time: http://www.rocketlanguages.link/french The course is very easy to follow, I was able to learn French in just 3 months.



I live in New York City, I wanted to go to a French language teacher but that would have cost me over $800 per month. Good thing with this internet, $800 it's a lot of money for me.

Answer 5

I don't think you got 'angry' responses, you were corrected in your misunderstanding in what you called learning 'Parisian French' and researching 'Parisian French' ancestors as well as being given some very basic history of how New France /Canada came into being.



As far as FH goes, who knows where your ancestors came from, most possibly France, but to be sure you would need to research via cited records to find out....they may have already been native 'canadians' or have come from anywhere in the world, so just the same as anyone else you won't know until you research.



French as a language and is a subject for another category and up to you to decide what you want to learn anyway........................................................................................



ADD: My advice would be to ignore...some people love to condemn, love to rant, just report them if you are offended, this is a Q&A community but like any community there are always some who don't /won't fit in with rules & regs.

French is a language, the second language of the world, French-Canadian is another language based on French but certainly different....and in some ways like English and American English...although they are the same language, different words used mean totally different things and some words in American - English have no place or meaning in English and are popularised in American-English but are often borrowed from Irish/Gaelic

Answer 6

I speak European French and if you are not used to hear Canadian French, it can still be difficult to understand at first. Some words can be feminine in France and masculine in Canada. Canadians also coin new words to avoid using English words : like magasiner in Canada = faire du shopping in France barre oblique au Canada = Slash in France They also use the same words as in France with different meanings : Dépaneuse is a shop in Canada and a tow truck in France Liqueur can be pops in Canada and in France it is only used for alcoholic drinks. In Quebec it can also happen that some people say "bonjour" when they leave... Canadian French also used old fashioned French words. Canadian have a specific distinct accent : It seems to me that the Canadian "a" sounds more like a French "o". But In France too there are differences of pronounciation between the north and the south.....Some people pronounce the "t" at the end of "vingt" while some others pronounce the "s" at the end of "moins" or the silent "e" at the end of words.

Answer 7

Canadian French has diverged slightly from European French, just as American English has diverged from the English spoken in England. Where did the English and French spoken in North America originally come from? You got it.



People make a big deal about differences, but if you learn European French, you will communicate clearly in Quebec.

Answer 8

I don't think it really matters, since in school they teach us European Spanish and not the many dialects that they have.



I learned the Mexico and Guatemala slang words and vocab words just because I was involved with so many of them and I couldn't really understand some of the words, so I had to learn their dialect…

Answer 9

No my family comes from Canada but also comes from Germany. Some stayed in Germany but some came to Canada. England also ruled Canada form some time so no.

Answer 10

of course you can learn proper french. it's your decision to make, and besides, quebecois french sounds like ducks.



just terrible ducks.