Spoken French

[Improviser]

In which of these areas is spoken French most similar to, or different from, the French spoken in France?

Quebec Province, Canada
Louisiana Cajun French
African countries like Senegal, Cote d'Ivoire
Caribbean islands like St. Bart's and Haiti

If a lot different anywhere, would someone from France have trouble understanding some of the words?

 

[87Xfer]

I don't know about Africa or the Carribean, but I'd say Quebec City french is closer than Quebec Province (outside the city), which is still closer than Cajun.

 

[auror]

Why would you ask this board this question?

 

[Improviser]

Why would you ask this board this question?

Because the board is a treasure trove of knowledge.

 

[husky429]

In which of these areas is spoken French most similar to, or different from, the French spoken in France?

Quebec Province, Canada
Louisiana Cajun French
African countries like Senegal, Cote d'Ivoire
Caribbean islands like St. Bart's and Haiti

If a lot different anywhere, would someone from France have trouble understanding some of the words?

I taught refugees for 4 years. Kids from DRC always said they speak "dirty" French everywhere but Africa and France. They found it difficult to understand.

Not the best resource of course but I figured worth mentioning.

 

[Palatine]

My next door neighbor was the Washington Bureau Chief for Radio France International. Her show was widely syndicated in Africa and for a while she was based in Cameroon. So I would assume that much of the French spoken in Africa is very close to the French spoken in France

 

[Plebe]

In which of these areas is spoken French most similar to, or different from, the French spoken in France?

Quebec Province, Canada
Louisiana Cajun French
African countries like Senegal, Cote d'Ivoire
Caribbean islands like St. Bart's and Haiti

If a lot different anywhere, would someone from France have trouble understanding some of the words?

By far -- the French of francophone western Africa is the closest. (I would argue that this is because of the relative recency of this region's colonization experience, but that's a debate for another forum.)

Quebecois French has had centuries to evolve along its own path in significant isolation from continental French. Louisiana Cajun French was historically even more isolated and suppressed by social and political factors. Many French speakers from France complain that they can barely understand the French spoken by francophones in Canada and Louisiana.

French in the francophone Caribbean is a mixed bag. In Haiti, French is the primary medium of instruction and government, but the true native (spoken) language of the vast majority of Haitians is Kreyòl (Haitian Creole), and only a small percentage of Haitians are fluent in French. On the islands that are still part of France (Martinique and Guadeloupe), by contrast, "standard" French is much more commonly spoken and relatively closer to the continental variety.