A new and interesting option for those of you willing to spend a bit of money for a structured course on spoken Québécois:
Le québécois en 10 leçons
(self-published by Alexandre Coutu)
Divided into 10 lessons, this new book (written completely in French only) includes dialogues in Québécois, downloadable recordings, detailed grammar and vocabulary explanations and many exercises.
You can check out the first lesson here.
You can also read more about Alexandre’s book in his guest post on Fluent in 3 Months. There are some recordings there too.
Strong points about the book:
– Lots of explanations for those of you who appreciate a structured approach
– Good focus on relaxed pronunciation with recordings
– Excellent way of reviewing or for getting a condensed overview of spoken Québécois
– Focuses on the kind of relaxed and very informal language that learners struggle with the most
This book will help you to increase your comprehension of spoken Québécois at the levels of language referred to as familier and populaire in French.
These are the levels of language that learners find very challenging to understand. For this reason, Alexandre’s book fills an important gap.
You’ll come across pronunciations that are often stigmatised at the populaire level of language, however. For example, the dialogues use moé and toé instead of moi and toi. I might suggest that you stick with moi and toi yourself.
As usual, only through long exposure to French and social situations in Quebec will you genuinely be able to feel language levels, and when it might be advisable to avoid certain pronunciations yourself as a non-Québécois learner of French.
If you buy the book, be sure to come back here and share your impressions.
Congratulations on publishing your book Alexandre!
Thank you for the review, Felix!
Readers in the Montréal area might want to know that the book is available at Librairie Michel Fortin, 3714 St-Denis.
Bonne lecture!
Good to know Alexandre. I see from your Twitter account that it’s also available in Winnipeg at a bookshop called McNally Robinson, 1120 Grant.
Indeed, and also at Librairie À la page, in Saint-Boniface (Manitoba).
New salespoints will be added to the Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/LeQuebecoisEn10Lecons
Hello Alexandre,
THANK YOU! as an Anglophone learning Quebecois it was so difficult to find material. I wish more Quebecers would export their culture rather than build walls around it! It’s part of Canada!
Anyway, will the book be onsale in any Ottawa/Gatineau stores?
Hello Sean!
I don’t have any plans to sell the book in the Ottawa/Gatineau region, unless you have a suitable place to suggest. You could always ask Michel Fortin ((514) 849-5719), their shipping fees *might* be lower than Lulu.
Merci Alexandre!
You could consider le librairie du soleil in downtown Ottawa. It’s a great store with helpful staff. They don’t have a website but I love browsing there.
http://www.byward-market.com/fr/directory/books-news/librairie-du-soleil.htm
Are there updates in regards to availability in Ottawa/Gatineau?
I am so grateful to have this book! I’m only in the first lesson, but it already feels like I’m finally being admitted to a secret society, and that comprehension will ensue 🙂 Merci très beaucoup!!
Nice to hear, Claudia! Don’t hesitate to leave a comment on Lulu 😉
I have long wanted your book and today received it in the mail. Flipping through it, I can tell that it was well worth obtaining. Together with this excellent website I should be able to speak like a Quebecker one day. Thanks to you both for your efforts to help us Anglophones better understand your language and culture.
Glad to hear it, Justin! (By the way, Alexandre isn’t associated with this website, in case you were hoping to speak directly with him.)
PS:
where can the downloadable recordings be found?
Nevermind, it’s in the book. Thanks again!