Well, stop ton maudit déconcrissage and tires-twé une buche. The ben cool second (and completely revised) edition of Canadian French for Better Travel brought to you by Ulysses, our very own hometown travel-book moguls, is now on sale.

The guide is endearing in its earnestness: One section is ominously titled "When Grammar and Syntax Become One," another painstakingly explains "that noisy silent T," and the "apparent bisexuality of certain words." The book usefully translates terms into both "standard" French and English. True to genre, it classifies phrases by their usefulness in particular situations: "Eating," "Going Out," "Creature Comforts," "Swearing" and "Human Relations."

Note that the guide is quite useful for people of all stripes and goûts, and only as racy and badass as the user. The "Swearing" section even warns readers against actually using any of the expressions lest they offend someone. A futile caution, since we all love this language because of its rainbow of colourful expletives culled from the Church. There are other reasons to love it, of course. Lots of 'em. Vas-y, enfonce-twé d'dans!

Canadian French for Better Travel is $9.99 and available at bookstores everywhere, at www.ulyssesguides.com, or by calling 1-800-748-9171.

 
 

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Quebecois has its place     Some stated that Quebecois is the equivalent of ebonics in the United States. This is stated by people who are ignorant of French history. Quebecois traces to the dialect of French utilized by the French during the 17th century including the King of France himself. So Quebecois contains many things from the French of that time, so it is not quite simply ebonics, because ebonics does not contain words from old style English as far as I know, while Quebecois does when it comes to French. A practical guide would carry a CD with a book.
Basil Keilani		September 1st, 2005
Really????     I did not think that our street language was that hard to understand. It is true that sometimes we mix up french and english (T'as tu vu mes tires ou dans la curve), or we shorten the words (S'tu un ordi, Ch'té vu hier) or we mix them together (quésé que tu fais?). Yes thinking about it, finally it must be something to try to understand us when you are a stranger but I still think like the other that this book is a joke. Good luck to all the english, french from somewhere else and all the others in learning our french ''quebecquers''.
Jessika Sévigny	{2 votes}	March 9th, 2004
Bloke's perspective     Who can take this book seriously? I'm a bloke to the core and my french is probably next to nothing but ask me if I care. I suppose that since I live here that I should make a greater effort but what would be the point as this book points out that québécois is a gutter version of the real deal. If you want to learn something you learn to do it right or not at all. We might as well laugh.
Daryl Campbell	{7 votes}	March 7th, 2004
Learn the language? Why?     This has got to be a bad joke. It has to be. Québécois at best is battered down offshoot of a regal language. I understand it when people speak it but that doesn't mean that I don't slightly cringe at the fact that I had to master proper french when I moved to this country but the natives here more often than not don't even feel obliged to even try to. I guess the book is a joke, even though it has some practical purposes, but I'm not laughing too hard. I don't think anyone who's ever had to learn the language properly does either.
Juana Cabezas	{6 votes}	March 6th, 2004
Another notch in the degradation of society     True joual is working-class gutter French. I'm not tring to offend those who 'proudly' speak it, but it is not a language unto its own, not even a true patois - which generally combines elements of multiple languages. To call Joual 'beautiful' or 'complex' is like saying that tagging is high art (and I don't mean true graffiti, I mean black tags on parking meters) or like saying that Avril Lavigne is a musician. While this book is amusing - and quite useful - let's not kid ourselves here. There are MANY strong cultural characteristics in Quebec, and Joual is most certainly not one of them.
Ben Kalman	{5 votes}	March 6th, 2004
Knowing when to use the joual and how to say it     I've heard so many people from France try to use the joual or swear words without success that I'm afraid of such a dictionnary. It almost hurts inside when I hear a french dude say Tabarnak with a lovely intonation when it's supposed to be dirty. I would definitely add a phonetics section so that people do get an idea of what it really is.
Marc Charette	{4 votes}	March 6th, 2004
Adding lighter fluid to the debate of what's REAL FRENCH!     I know it's all in good fun but I can foresee "the real French speakers" having a field day with this book. Quebecers may not sound snotty when they speak and the dialect can sometimes be rough on the edges but it is a true testament that we are a product of our environment. I'm not a Québécois de souche but I have been born and raised here and I am a proud speaker of Joual French. So bring on anyone who dares question MY French...
Ronny Pangia	{4 votes}	March 4th, 2004
Joual is the french equivalent of ebonics...     The Québécois de souche version of 'français propre' is the same retarded equivalent that 'ebonics' is to proper english. I recognize the inherent humor of Canadian French for Better Travel's nod to joual but on a basic level it's pathetically sad that it's also legitimizing a corruption of an actually beautiful language. Yes, it's funny...but it also says something about us that we find nothing wrong with this. I'm no francophone, I believe the entire 'mouvement séparatiste' is so completely bogus and broken down that I find their occasional fits and spasms annoyingly sad, oh, and yeah, I hate the PQ with a passion--so it's not as if I'm their biggest booster but to even tangently sanctify the corruption of a language is just wrong. If nothing else we should respect the language.
Pedro Eggers	{12 votes}	March 4th, 2004
Possibly Useful and Entertaining     Those who have been exposed to Quebec French their entire lives have no idea how difficult this language is to learn for outsiders. Having taken French in the U.S. before arriving in Quebec, I was amazed at just how little I could understand. I'm definitely considering buying this book- it sounds like it might be useful. At the very least, it will prove entertaining.
Heather Jackson	{3 votes}	March 4th, 2004
Quebec French Has Its Place     The Quebecois French Phrasebook is only useful up to a certain point. You also need to get the correct pronunciation or else you will sound like a fool or worse be totally misunderstood. It should come with an audio CD so you can practice repeating the phrases until you get it right. You have to know in what situations this dialect would add a bit of flavour to your conversations. For example using it in a boardroom meeting would be quite unprofessional. The language purists may complain but languages are constantly evolving helping speakers of the language better express their intricate thoughts. Language is a means of communication not a series of unbreakable grammar and syntax rules.
Stephen Talko		August 29th, 2004

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