… don’t always limit yourself to it.
Some people may disagree by saying that you should only listen to one accent to learn a language. I think you should listen to French as it’s spoken by people from all over the francophone world.
I should make myself clear — if you want to model your accent on native speakers then, yes, I think you should pick one accent. You can model yourself on Québécois speakers when you’re working on your accent.
I’ll even suggest that guys pick a male Québécois speaker to model yourself on, and ladies a female speaker. Someone in your age group is a good idea too.
But when you’re working on listening comprehension, listen to speakers with different accents every once in a while. You can still make Québécois French the major part of your listening, but make time for other accents too.
In Montreal especially, you’re not just going to hear the Québécois accent. You’re going to hear many different accents in French — you’ll hear the Québécois accent, different European and African French accents, French as spoken by Arabs, French spoken as a second language; the list goes on.
It’s also a good idea to get used to hearing a variety of francophone accents because I don’t see any interest or sense in cutting yourself off from all the great cultural production that comes out of other French-speaking countries. If you can habituate yourself to other accents, you’ll enjoy listening to movies from other countries, for example.
One other reason, and a very good one I think, is that you’ll develop an appreciation for what makes each variety of French unique. If you only listen to one accent, you’ll never know this. If you’re interested in how Quebec French differs from other kinds of French, the best way to discover this is to listen to lots of Quebec French and other kinds of French too.
On a related note, I’ll point you to a show that I particularly like on Radio-Canada International (RCI) called Courrier mondial. You can hear people call in from all over the world to speak with the show’s animator, Stéphane Parent. Maybe you’ll even hear someone from your own country or language group speaking on the show.
Other good shows include Pomme et mandarine (a meeting place between Canada and the Maghreb) and Tam-tam Canada (issues touching immigration). You’ll find more recordings on this main French page page of RCI.
The speakers on RCI use crisp, plain language in French. This is excellent for learning more French vocabulary because you may find it easier to understand. They’ve all got nice voices too which makes listening enjoyable.
Leave a Reply