Learning Spanish but for Moving to Quebec

[bagasme]

Hello all,

Let's say that we had Raul, a random student from a random place. He wanted to study in Quebec (Canada).

Someday, he responded to an online forum thread, stating that learning Spanish is useless if someone is about to move to Canada. But he was curious whether his proposition is true or not.

So instead of learning French (as he is going to Quebec), he learned Spanish, and got good mark on language exams. Then he moved to Quebec for enrolling to a top-tier university in Montreal.

Assuming that Raul only spoke Spanish while Quebecois only spoke French, and they didn't speak English at all during this experiment, could Raul understand what Quebecois said to him? Could he survive his college years with this language gap?

Bagas

 

[DrClaude]

Assuming that Raul only spoke Spanish while Quebecois only spoke French, and they didn't speak English at all during this experiment, could Raul understand what Quebecois said to him?

No!

Heck, even the French can have difficulty understanding Québécois

Could he survive his college years with this language gap?

I'm assuming that you talking about undergraduate studies. The answer is no. All teaching will be in French, lecture notes and lab instructions will be in French, and textbooks may also be in French (although English textbooks are used a lot in scientific fields). This requires a very good knowledge of the language and some proficiency at writing it (e.g., in reports and exams).

A native Spanish speaker may be able to learn French quite rapidly. but I don't think that learning elementary Spanish will be of any use here.

 

[Vanadium 50]

Heck, even the French can have difficulty understanding Québécois

True that!

 

[bagasme]

No!

Heck, even the French can have difficulty understanding Québécois I'm assuming that you talking about undergraduate studies. The answer is no. All teaching will be in French, lecture notes and lab instructions will be in French, and textbooks may also be in French (although English textbooks are used a lot in scientific fields). This requires a very good knowledge of the language and some proficiency at writing it (e.g., in reports and exams).

A native Spanish speaker may be able to learn French quite rapidly. but I don't think that learning elementary Spanish will be of any use here.

But I mentioned here that Raul passed admission into the college, despite he lack French proficiency.

Ok for your suggestion.

 

[StatGuy2000]

But I mentioned here that Raul passed admission into the college, despite he lack French proficiency.

Ok for your suggestion.

@bagasme , first of all, it would be highly unlikely that someone who lacks fluency or proficiency in French would be admitted into university in a French-language university in Quebec, even if that person can speak another Romance language like Spanish.

Second, there are 3 English-language universities in Quebec (McGill, Concordia, Bishop's).

Third, even though Spanish and French are both Romance languages (i.e. derived from Vulgar Latin -- i.e. the commonly spoken vernacular Latin), due to history the languages have evolved and diverged considerably so that the languages are not mutually comprehensible.

French has been subjected to influences from the ancient Celtic languages spoken in what is now France along with Germanic languages of various settlers and invaders into that territory. Spanish has been influenced by the ancient Iberian languages, Basque, numerous Celtic languages (the Celtiberian languages), the Germanic Visigothic languages, and by Arabic (during the time of the Moorish conquest of over half of what is now Spain).

Since you are from Indonesia, let me try and give you an analogy. French differs from Spanish to a similar extent that the Javanese language differs from Sundanese.

 

[StatGuy2000]

True that!

Well, Quebecois French is derived from the 17th- and 18th-century regional varieties (dialects) of early modern French, and of other langues d'oil Romance languages in northwestern France (in particular Poitevin-Saintogenais and Norman).

Whereas standard French in France (called Metropolitan French) had diverged from these forms of French.

 

[jack action]

Assuming that Raul only spoke Spanish while Quebecois only spoke French, and they didn't speak English at all during this experiment, could Raul understand what Quebecois said to him? Could he survive his college years with this language gap?

Il ne faudrait que quelques mois avant que Raul ne parle couramment le français, s'il vit dans une communauté purement française.

Selon cette source, il ne faut que 23 semaines pour apprendre le français; Un processus qui peut être accéléré par immersion.

Ma mère, qui ne connaissait que le français, a fait son secondaire en anglais. Au début, elle suivait ses cours avec un dictionnaire anglais-français. Elle a passé au travers des 4 années qu'il a fallu pour obtenir son diplôme. (Mais je ne me rappelle plus combien de temps ça lui a pris pour maîtriser l'anglais.)

Un de mes amis originaire de l'île Maurice (où ils parlent français), m'a dit que son père avait étudié en ingénierie en Allemagne. Il a fait exprès de vivre dans un petit village avec uniquement des gens qui parlent allemand. Apparemment, il ne lui a fallu que 3 mois pour apprendre la langue.

Alors, Raul peut venir au Québec. On va l'assimiler!

Spoiler: What?

It should be a matter of a few months before Raul become fluent in French, if he is immersed in a purely French community.

According to this source, it takes 23 weeks to learn French; A process that can be sped up by immersion.

My mother, who only knew French, did her high school in English. At the beginning, she was following classes with an English-French dictionary. She got through the 4 years it took to get her degree. (I'm not sure how long it took her to become fluent, though.)

One of my friends from the Mauritian Island (where they speak French), told me that his father studied Engineering in Germany. He made it a point to live in a small village with only German-speaking people. Apparently, it took him only 3 months to pick up the language.

So, Raul can come to Québec, we will assimilate him!

 

[bagasme]

Il ne faudrait que quelques mois avant que Raul ne parle couramment le français, s'il vit dans une communauté purement française.

Selon cette source, il ne faut que 23 semaines pour apprendre le français; Un processus qui peut être accéléré par immersion.

Ma mère, qui ne connaissait que le français, a fait son secondaire en anglais. Au début, elle suivait ses cours avec un dictionnaire anglais-français. Elle a passé au travers des 4 années qu'il a fallu pour obtenir son diplôme. (Mais je ne me rappelle plus combien de temps ça lui a pris pour maîtriser l'anglais.)

Un de mes amis originaire de l'île Maurice (où ils parlent français), m'a dit que son père avait étudié en ingénierie en Allemagne. Il a fait exprès de vivre dans un petit village avec uniquement des gens qui parlent allemand. Apparemment, il ne lui a fallu que 3 mois pour apprendre la langue.

Alors, Raul peut venir au Québec. On va l'assimiler!

Spoiler: What?

It should be a matter of a few months before Raul become fluent in French, if he is immersed in a purely French community.

According to this source, it takes 23 weeks to learn French; A process that can be sped up by immersion.

My mother, who only knew French, did her high school in English. At the beginning, she was following classes with an English-French dictionary. She got through the 4 years it took to get her degree. (I'm not sure how long it took her to become fluent, though.)

One of my friends from the Mauritian Island (where they speak French), told me that his father studied Engineering in Germany. He made it a point to live in a small village with only German-speaking people. Apparently, it took him only 3 months to pick up the language.

So, Raul can come to Québec, we will assimilate him!

GoogleTranslate should speak the same as your spoiler, either.

 

[nrqed]

Hello all,

Let's say that we had Raul, a random student from a random place. He wanted to study in Quebec (Canada).

Someday, he responded to an online forum thread, stating that learning Spanish is useless if someone is about to move to Canada. But he was curious whether his proposition is true or not.

So instead of learning French (as he is going to Quebec), he learned Spanish, and got good mark on language exams. Then he moved to Quebec for enrolling to a top-tier university in Montreal.

Assuming that Raul only spoke Spanish while Quebecois only spoke French, and they didn't speak English at all during this experiment, could Raul understand what Quebecois said to him? Could he survive his college years with this language gap?

Bagas

I am French-Canadian, born and raised in Quebec city.
As the others said, someone knowing Spanish would not understand "pure" Québécois(with lots of slang words, strange grammar and mangled prononciation). Even French have a very hard time understanding us if we do not make an effort to use more standard French. See for a skit on this).

But the French spoken by university professors is rarely like Québécois spoken by some of the population (because the profs often are not themselves Québécois(es), and even if they are they tend to talk in a more standard French than the pure Québécois, partly because of snobbery). However, even with that more standard French, someone speaking Spanish would not understand Québécois right away, it would take several months of immersion to start picking it up. Reading is easier. Even without ever having taken a Spanish class I can understand 80% of a novel in Spanish, but I can't understand spoken Spanish.This said, I have seen many foreign graduate students accepted in French universities who were not proficient in French, let alone fluent. For a Spanish speaking student, the first classes would be tough but if no classes are taken the first semester, I think they could manage to take classes the second semester.

 

[DrClaude]

This said, I have seen many foreign graduate students accepted in French universities who were not proficient in French, let alone fluent. For a Spanish speaking student, the first classes would be tough but if no classes are taken the first semester, I think they could manage to take classes the second semester.

Graduate studies is another thing all together. This is way I said I was assuming undergraduate studies.

 

[fluidistic]

This sounds familiar to me, having been raised back and forth between Québec and France, then moved to a Spanish speaking country making Spanish my 2nd language after French. I think most has been said already, but I wonder one thing. Which language(s) does Bagas already know?

 

[bagasme]

Just English, but trio Italian-French-Spanish interested me.

 

[nrqed]

Graduate studies is another thing all together. This is way I said I was assuming undergraduate studies.

I know. And I agreed with your post. My comment was meant to provide more information to the OP, not to contradict you.

 

[StatGuy2000]

Just English, but trio Italian-French-Spanish interested me.

Since you state that you are from Indonesia, I would have thought you would be fluent in Bahasa Indonesia (and possibly the local Indonesian languages like Javanese, etc.).

Are you not fluent in any of those languages?

 

[bagasme]

@StatGuy2000 I'm neither expert nor fluent on local languages (though I did learn Sundanese at elementary school). Yet Bahasa Indonesia is my mother tongue.