-
French and English
Two questions related to Language. When Lisa was 13 she sang “Michelle”. I think it’s cool to hear a young Austrian (native language German) singing a song with both English and French lyrics. I was wondering if Lisa (and/or Mona) speaks French or if she just mimicked Paul like most Americans do.
Second question: At the end of “I’ll Follow the Sun” during your promotion of your new albums and the start of your club, Lisa says “Yep!” I have also heard her say “Yeah”. I can understand why you might gravitate to “Yeah” as an alternate for “Yes”, being so close to “ja”, but what inspired you to add “Yep” to your vocabulary?
By the way, my youngest son is particularly fond of “Aye” as his word for “yes”. He’s also been known to say “Ja”.
-
9 Replies
-
Hi Lynn!
For Michelle I was copying Paul’s poor pronunciation making it ever poorer 😉 I remember Dad and Michaela trying to help me with it (they both learned French in school) but I don’t think I was convincing any natives.As for Yeah, Yes, Yep, Ja … I never really thought about that. I think we say all those things interchangeable without any reason other than we’ve been saying all these things in German as well (including the yessss). I don’t remember ever saying “Aye” in an un-ironic way but I do like how it makes you sound like an Irish pirate … or the speaker of the British parliament 🙂 I think I’ll have to start adding it to my vocabulary …
-
Being of Irish/a tad Scottish, Canadian heritage…I say Aye/Yep/YesYa/Yeah/ Eh quite a bit…
As for French, it was the Parisienne/France that we were taught in the schools here where I am. for the French classes in all grades/ French Immersion programs…
The Quebec French is more slang like , and I’ve heard Quebec people speak a combo of French/English mixed but in Quebec City, perhaps further up North in Quebec, maybe towards Maritimes ( I’m not 100% certain on this), the French spoken is closer to /if not Parisienne French, and hardly if not next to no English mixed in.
My French language is quite limited….I only know bare minimal basics.
-
Ca va mes amies
Ce n’est pas grave.
-
Thank you, Lisa, for your honest reply, not that you had any reason to lie. I love that your parents helped you. I kind of guessed that this was the answer. Not that I don’t think you could learn French, but I’m sure it would have been difficult along with learning English and how to play multiple musical instruments (which is another language in itself).
I look forward to hearing you say “aye”. Too bad “Talk like a Pirate Day” was just last month (Sept. 19). Maybe its time to watch “Pirate of the Caribbean” again.
Hey, Jacki. Your French is probably as good or better than my German, which is what I took in school in the U.S. “Use it or lose it” is what they say.
-
We are on a big island over here.
It’s so hard to maintain a 2nd language here in the States because there is no chance for daily conversation.
Europe has much more facility for it.
-
With Canada being an officially bilingual country with English and French as the official languages, the packaging on all products have to have both English and French labeling by law. In high school, French 8 is a mandatory course, so I finally got my exposure to French. It was quite illuminating to finally be able to understand what the flip side of the Cereal Box finally said after 14 years! In my school, they did the French exchange program where kids in my province of British Columbia could spend months with a family in Quebec and vice versa with kids from Quebec coming over to BC. After seeing MLTs Australia exchange program adventure they did, I kick myself I didn’t volunteer to do the French exchange program in my early teens. C’est La Vie! Wow, where did that come from? I guess a little French from French 8 stuck after all! 🙂
-
Jacki and Jung, that’s very interesting about French in Canada. I’ve often wondered whether it’s required in schools throughout the country, or just in Quebec. I imagine the number of French speakers you encounter drops off pretty fast as you head west. How often do you happen to overhear someone speaking it where you live? Is it mostly confined to the cities? And if so, do there tend to be French parts of town, or is the population pretty well mixed in?
-
Hi David, as Canada is so spread out, out west in BC, I couldn’t say French is any more common than any other languages. I think the same would be true with the other western provinces of Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba. I think in the neighbouring provinces of Ontario and New Brunswick and Newfoundland, there would be more French prevalent. My geography is getting pretty bad, had to look at the map to see what was immediately east of Quebec! 🙂 Hope there are no Atlantic Canadians here to see this post. 🙂 . Last year when I visited Quebec, which feels like an eternity ago, I wasn’t sure if I’d have problems in some places with my nearly non-existent French, but it felt like everywhere English was spoken, and one would get by no problem there with English only. Perhaps in the more rural places in Quebec, it might be different.
-
Yes, in some parts of Ontario, especially Ottawa, nearby surroundings of Eastern Ontario, near Ottawa, being the capital city of Canada, is officially bilingual . Even throughout Ottawa, there are neighborhoods, that are high in French population, thus French is commonly spoken, but we also have a Chinatown area, for the Asian community, a Little Italy area for the Italian Community, and Ottawa South area, is known for as a Muslim Community area… very culturally diverse it is here in Ottawa area where I’m at.
The forum ‘MLT-FAQs’ is closed to new discussions and replies.
