Does an Anglo-Canadian become more Canadian by learning French?

[vid]

Many parts of Switzerland use huitante, and Acadia (according to Wiktionary) uses huiptant. "The -p- is from contamination with septante (“seventy”). " Jersey (where they speak Norman) also uses huiptante.

I use huitante, I learned it before I heard of octante. I know more people who learned French in Switzerland than in Belgium.

[Xelebes]

The Plantegenets most often used uitante.

[vid]

Originally Posted by Xelebes

The Plantegenets most often used uitante.

I bet they also used "'erbs".

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by vid

Many parts of Switzerland use huitante, and Acadia (according to Wiktionary) uses huiptant. "The -p- is from contamination with septante (“seventy”). " Jersey (where they speak Norman) also uses huiptante.

I use huitante, I learned it before I heard of octante. I know more people who learned French in Switzerland than in Belgium.

Only a tiny portion of Acadie uses septante, nonante and either huitante or octante. It is the Pubnico region east of Yarmouth NS. A few thousand people at best. Drive half an hour to Meteghan on the other side of Yarmouth and they say soixante-dix, etc. Same with Shediac NB Mont-Carmel PEI or Caraquet NB.

[vid]

Originally Posted by Acajack

Only a tiny portion of Acadie uses septante, nonante and either huitante or octante. It is the Pubnico region east of Yarmouth NS. A few thousand people at best. Drive half an hour to Meteghan on the other side of Yarmouth and they say soixante-dix, etc. Same with Shediac NB Mont-Carmel PEI or Caraquet NB.

Well there is like 100,000 people living in Jersey and fewer than 5,000 of them speak their local dialect of Norman French and use huiptante, so, I mean, we're not talking about large populations.

In English we say eighty and not octy, so I'll stick with huitante, thanks.

[Xelebes]

Originally Posted by vid

I bet they also used "'erbs".

herbes was used three times more often than erbes.

[kool maudit]

Huitante is Swiss, hence the cuckoo clock versus the Belgian smurfs!

[The Macallan]

As a ten year old boy, I attended a local school for a year in Geneva, in the French speaking part of Switzerland. In class we used, septante, quatre vingt, and nonante. It was certainly explained that in France soixante-dix etc would be used and we would have to know that system also. Huitante was at least mentioned though not actually used. I never heard of octante there, though it makes sense from the Latin root.

Of course, it’s a looong time since I was ten years old and things may have changed since then!

An aside: towards the end of my time there, my class began to take German which is the majority language of Switzerland. The teacher used to have me demonstrate diphthongs such as the “au” in Haus because she said anglophones could pronounce them more accurately than francophones. After frequently having my French pronunciation corrected through my time, it felt good to be, however briefly, the expert!

[kool maudit]

I learned French in my late teens and early 20s and at that point, learning French was synonymous with learning languages for me. My take was that it was hard and I was bad at it, and it took me longer than it did others.

Living in Scandinavia, though, has really underscored the fact that English is ultimately a Germanic language, as are Danish and Swedish. There are so many little things that transfer nicely from English, from sounds to word orders. Much more than with French.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by kool maudit

Huitante is Swiss, hence the cuckoo clock versus the Belgian smurfs!

Oh boy. Guess that went right over my head!

[Dengler Avenue]

Originally Posted by Xelebes

The Plantegenets most often used uitante.

Lol at first I thought you were referring to the village of Plantagenet in Eastern Ontario. I was like, “What a second, that’s not what I heard in the latest episode of Hors Québec.”

[Acajack]

So to complicate matters further, the Belgians actually say:

septante
quatre-vingts
nonante

And BTW so do French speakers in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda and Burundi. As they were colonized by Belgium. Yes people, Belgium once had a colonial empire!

Huitante tends to be limited to Switzerland.

And octante only seems to survive in the Acadian population of the Argyle district of Nova Scotia (Pubnico, Wedgeport, etc.)

[vid]

Originally Posted by Acajack

Belgium once had a colonial empire!

Boy, did they ever...

[Dengler Avenue]

Originally Posted by vid

Boy, did they ever...

I’ve heard of atrocities that occurred under his watch.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by vid

Boy, did they ever...

During the Rwandan genocide Belgian soldiers unlucky enough to be there were viciously murdered. Soldiers from other nationalities including Canadians were generally spared.

[vid]

Originally Posted by Acajack

During the Rwandan genocide Belgian soldiers unlucky enough to be there were viciously murdered. Soldiers from other nationalities including Canadians were generally spared.

I completely understand why that would have happened.

[lio45]

Originally Posted by Acajack

Oh boy. Guess that went right over my head!

Went right over mine as well, I must admit.

[vid]

I noticed it but assumed that you guys would too so I figured there must be something else going on that I don't get.