African French

[maxiewawa]

Is African French very different from European? I heard a Moroccan guy being interviewed on an Olympic show, and he sounded quite different. But still recogniseably French.

How about Central Africa? Would a Parisienne be able to get around in downtown Djobouti?

I was listening to a documentary about the Democratic Congo, apart from African languages there was a lot of French spoken. I was happy to understand a little!

French is such an international language, but we always just think about continental French. Maybe we could get an audio blog from Africa? Or the middle east? Or Canada?

Or is African French very different from European?

[Bouks]

African French is not very different in terms of words and syntax, at least what I have heard spoken. As is the case with their English, they tend to speak it very carefully and properly. They have an accent of course -- but in the case of central or southern Africans, I find it very attractive

As far as I know, you can get around with French in most places in Africa, but not so much anymore in Algeria, where they stopped using it as the official schooling language years ago. (My husband was in the first generation of people to be schooled only in Arabic, and he's 44.) So if you're lost in Algeria and need to ask directions, find old people

Northern Africans have an accent that's different from more southern places in Africa, of course, but you can get the hang of it quickly. You can even understand a lot when they speak Arabic, because it's full of borrowed French words.

Here's an example of stuff my husband says to his friends...see how much you understand:

Arabic: "Aietly demain, andak congé ou pas?"
Translation: "Call me tomorrow, do you have a day off or not?"

Arabic: "Makash portable, fi reparateur!"
Translation: "I don't have my cell phone, it's being repaired!"

Arabic: "Gultli porquoi? Gultlu je ne sais pas!"
Translation: "He said, 'why'? I said 'I don't know!'"

Sometimes they repeat the same thing, first in Arabic then in French, as in:

"Ma lesh...ce n'est pas grave!" or: "Kif-kif, pareil!"

Heh...If my husband reads this he'll be laughing his butt off

[Teacherangele]

Hey guys!

What an interesting thread you opened here!
I really had very little exposure to African French. (living in North East of France). My parents used to have some acquaintances when I was a child. Beside a few people here and there and what I could listen to on TV, my perception is quite limited!
I tend to agree with Bouks. It seems that the language itself is not much different, however to my ears the accent was heavy for some individuals! Other was easier to understand!

It would be great to be able to have a podcast on the different French accent out there. That would make a wonderful podcast!

Regarding Canadian French, I have for friends a couple from Toronto leaving in the same town as me. Her French is easily understandable except few words here and there which have their own use in the area she's from. She learned it as a native tongue. However him, learned French from the street (the local car shop or mini-market), therefore he uses a lot of slang word and phrases which I have NO CLUE about! It is like talking to an unintelligible French person! It is quite a riot as there are a lot of phrases using English words which are made French like:
Example:
C'est le fun! (= c'est amusant)
Le Roi du boostage! (being so cold over there a guy with his tow-truck goes around to jump-start people's cars)
Interesting isn't it?

One question books: the Arabic sample sentences from your husband from which area is it exactly (if I may ask)? Is it a dialect only? an official language?

[Bouks]

Angele - I'm sorry, I should have made it more clear that my husband is from Algeria, but lives in Marseille. (He doesn't have his US residency card yet...we're working on it. Long story.) His manner of speaking the Arabic/French mix isn't an official language, but it's how all the Algerians of his generation speak to each other in Marseille. He also speaks like this to family members his age or older in Algeria, over the phone (maybe with slightly less French mixed in). To our little nieces and nephews over there, he speaks pure Arabic.

Since many Algerians travel back and forth between Marseille and Algeria, I can well imagine that it's nearly the same in big cities like Algiers among the over-40 crowd. Younger Algerians, and ones residing in more isolated areas, would have less French in their speech, but many borrowed words still would remain.

[Teacherangele]

No reason for you to apologize. I was just curious!

I get it now. When speaking French to my fellow citizen living in the US, I do the same mix English and French whatever word comes first! Really for the language purist this is probably a sin!
What bugs me the most is when I can't remember a word in French, how frustrating!
Aaahhh (:o scared) I'm loosing my native tongue!

Oh yes immigration papers, so many people have a long story about it! Been there done that! Good luck in sorting it all out. I hope you 2 we'll be together for good anywhere you choose!

Angèle

[Keith]

That's a very interesting post! Pigeon language is very common in my own life. Being a Korean raised in America, I do the same thing. The Korean is from the family, and the English from living in US. So since my family understands Korean and English at the same time, we're always mixing things up!

Since French is all over the world, is there a type of French that you can barely understand?

And what about American French? Down in Louisiana, down south. I've never heard it, but I'd imagine it to be really strange.

[maxiewawa]

There's a French creole on Haiti I think. There are many French creoles all over the world. So much that I think "creole" was originally a French word that we've adapted into English because we didn't have a word of our own to describe it.

[Teacherangele]

Hmmm this thread makes me think we could do some culture class on all the variation of French out there and maybe a bit of history and how the language evolved to what it is now!
Thx Max for starting it!

[maxiewawa]

Je vous en prie.

[Bouks]

Some time ago when I was living in France, I saw a TV documentary about Cajun musicians in Louisiana. They spoke French with a Zydeco musician, and he answered in Cajun Creole...and it was so different that they had to subtitle his words in standard French. It was very interesting.

I could understand some of what he said, but he used lots of expressions that would be considered "incorrect" in standard French. When he said "I don't know", for example, he said "Je connais pas." Of course we would say "Je ne sais pas." Other things I couldn't understand just because of the way he pronounced them. But it was fascinating to hear him nonetheless.

The differences with Cajun Creole are apparent with the catch phrase they use during Mardi Gras festivities..."Let the good times roll." In Creole they all say "Laissez les bon temps rouler" - which has no logic whatsoever to the French! Angele, what does this phrase look like it means to you?

This documentary was aired long before Katrina hit, so I hope that this musician is alive and well and speaking Cajun Creole somewhere.

[Teacherangele]

Hey Max
you excel in your French now!

Bouks

The impression I get from the sentence you gave is a split image of English, meaning it is a word for word translation which is understandable, however weird to French native (as me...), funny and cute all at the same time!

[maxiewawa]

For anyone interested in French blogs from around the world, have a look at http://www.globalvoicesonline.org . Enjoy!

[Teacherangele]

Everyone and all who is reading this thread, check the link given by Maxiewawa. First impression, it is well done and I really like it. Then I checked who were the founders of this site:

from http://globalvoicesonline.org/about/

" Global Voices is a non-profit global citizens’ media project founded at Harvard Law School’s Berkman Center for Internet and Society, a research think-tank focused on the Internet’s impact on society."

Ah ben voilà ! (here we go) That's why I liked it! Nice project huh?

Let us know what story you liked (provide title)? and why you got drawn to read it?

[slimthug]

i'm french sorry for my english
Some french accent from french langage countries are more difficult to understand So, from the easiest to the hardest
Swiss , belgium, west indian, arabic, black african..........canadian accent

I don't understand nothin in their TV show!!! but they understand us very well.

[Teacherangele]

Hi Slimslug

Nice to meet you!

Your classification of accent difficulty seem quite right to me!

Tell me,
What kind of shows have you seen and from which country were they?