OffQc | Québécois French Guide

zervice? oufert?

The advert on the back of this Montréal bus says that parts and service is open until 11:30… well, sort of:

Zervice et pièces oufert jusqu’à 23 h 30

Can you guess why service and ouvert are spelled zervice and oufert?

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Posted in Entries #1001-1050 | Tagged français québécois, Montréal, Québécois French, STM | 7 Comments

7 Responses

1. on 27 October 2015 at 14:04 Christian

   German accent 🙂

   
   
2. on 27 October 2015 at 14:11 Kent S.

   The only thing that comes to mind is that this could be a way of imitating a German accent en français. Now, if we saw a VW dealer advertising in English, “Ve haff a schpecial deal now in our zervice depaartment”—well, you’d never hear the end of the complaints of insensitivity or of mocking the ways Germans speak. That certainly wouldn’t fly in the rest of Canada or in the States! (Years ago, in English-language books and magazines, it was more common to see dialects and accents rendered in creative spellings, but that practice is frowned upon today.)

   
   
3. on 27 October 2015 at 14:34 Verbaccino

   That’s a great observation, Kurt S. I would tend to agree with you, but it’s interesting how these things always depend on the context, i.e. who’s having fun with whose accent, for what purpose, and in what tone. As a German-Canadian born and raised in Quebec, I actually find this ad rather funny. But it’s definitely a fine line. Different languages have different power dynamics with each other.

   
   
4. on 27 October 2015 at 15:32 Circeus

   There’s been what I think is a trend over the last decade of using people with noticeable accents in Quebec advertising. Sleeman’s, President’s Choice, Tangerine (I think? It was a bank anyway) and most recently Volkswagen. I believe that’s probably why this caused no raised eyebrows. Volkswagen is somewhat unusual in involving German and not English.

   
   
5. on 28 October 2015 at 00:12 OffQc

   When I first saw this ad, I interpreted it as a way of playing up the German aspect of Volkswagen out of pride or cachet through the use of self-deprecating humour, and not as a mockery of the accent. Yes, there’s definitely a fine line when going down this path, but I think Verbaccino is right to make the point about dynamics between languages, tone and purpose. That said, I’m sure there are better ways to do it than what VW has done here — think of IKEA, for example, who use Swedish-language names for products to play up the Swedish aspect of the company.

   
   
6. on 28 October 2015 at 03:45 Kent S.

   Verbaccino, you’re absolutely right—different languages do have different power dynamics with each other, so what may be appropriate in one context may not be in another. I appreciate wordplay and having fun with language, so in the right atmosphere, a bit of kidding around (or even self-mockery) is okay by me. But it’s all in where you draw the line. (I love walking around Ikea and noticing the names of the products. I know the basics of Swedish pronunciation [except I still can’t get that “sj” sound right!], but I would hesitate if I had to pronounce any of the items out loud to the staff, because presumably my fairly correct pronunciation of “Bestå” would be greeted by blank looks by the Ikea salesclerk, who probably has no clue what it sounds like in Swedish!)

   
   
   • on 28 October 2015 at 13:05 OffQc

     I wonder if IKEA employees get a lesson in the basics of Swedish pronunciation? Probably not, but it would be good to, I think.

     
     

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