Quebecois French of the 1920s http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/historical-fiction/threads/48064 mysticpenguin I can''t speak three sentences of French, but one of my main secondary characters in the story I'm working on is Quebecois. I thought I was doing pretty well finding Quebecois idioms and differences from European French, and then I remembered that my story is set in 1927, and it seems kind of doubtful me that they'd have been speaking the exact same language back then that people do now. If nothing else, relying on modern slang I found would probably make him sound really anachronistic. I know where to look for English slang from the 1910s and 1920s. Is there anyplace like that for Canadian French? Sat, 17 Dec 2011 06:03:22 +0100 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/historical-fiction/threads/48064?page=1#forum_thread_comment_979116 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/historical-fiction/threads/48064?page=1#forum_thread_comment_979116 olive_fruit I'm not sure about where to find Quebecois slang, but I'm Canadian. And I go to a French school so I know a tiny bit. France French goes "D'accord" while Quebecois goes "O.K.". Though that might not have been in 1927. Also, Grammar! For normal French, you have to put a space before the ? or !. Par exemple: Bonjour ! Je m'appelle Liv. Comment t'appelle vous ?" But for Quebecois you don't have to. And finally, for your "superiors" you say "vous" (for you) but for friends or younger siblings you say "tu" or "toi". Sat, 24 Dec 2011 02:14:46 +0100 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/historical-fiction/threads/48064?page=1#forum_thread_comment_996936 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/historical-fiction/threads/48064?page=1#forum_thread_comment_996936 mysticpenguin Oh, interesting! I took about a quarter of French in college ten years ago (that I was horrible at because it kept getting mixed up in my head with the German I took in high school and ASL I took at another school), so I vaguely remember "vous" and "tu" from classes, but "toi" is new to me. For Quebecois slang I went on Google and found a few pages on modern expressions and slang written by someone from Quebec, so they seemed pretty credible. It wasn't until I was in the middle of a scene that I realized I had no idea how long they'd been in use. Tue, 27 Dec 2011 23:02:28 +0100 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/historical-fiction/threads/48064?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1004453 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/historical-fiction/threads/48064?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1004453 olive_fruit Nicee. I was looking through some bookmarks when I found this website: http://www.uqtr.ca/argot/introduction.html Thu, 29 Dec 2011 01:30:06 +0100 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/historical-fiction/threads/48064?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1007396 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/historical-fiction/threads/48064?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1007396 Gadifere I'd doubt they'd be saying 'ok'. As far as I know that idiom didn't become in use until the second world war (at least in Europe, and probably wasn't used in America before that either). if you want a taste of Quebecois French, try the Magasin Général comic books / graphic novels (by Regis Loisel and Jean-Louis Tripp). It's a really good series set in the 1920's Quebecois countryside and it gives you a great taste of atmosphere as well as a brilliant use of the local language. Sat, 31 Dec 2011 00:00:34 +0100 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/historical-fiction/threads/48064?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1012236 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/historical-fiction/threads/48064?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1012236