I hear French spoken in Canada, the Caribbean and in France (Paris). Should I be learning to speak like a Paris native? Does it matter at all?
As an American English native speaker, it makes a big differnece if I hear English spoken with a British or an American accent and also the grammar and vocabulary are slightly different.
Does it matter to a French listener which accent you speak French in? Is "parisian" French universally understood?
The most important is to be understood. It's like US or UK or australian or South African english. You may have all the accent you want to have, the most important is to be able to be understood
I agree 100% with Rémi :)
I was totally joking... No worries!
This guy is a famous stand up in France, or used to be. Anyways, he's from Marseille and has a strong southern accent.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gYTNBUpuTc8&spfreload=10%20Message%3A%20Unexpected%20end%20of%20input%20(url%3A%20https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DgYTNBUpuTc8)
But TV and radio are 99.9% mainland accent, which you can find in most major cities such as Paris, Lyon, Bordeaux etc...
Pronunciation is important in language studies but I wouldn't worry too much about my accent and try to focus on enjoying the language first. A lot of people like the American accent and appreciate when you try to speak French with them.
The cliché that you might have of French being unfriendly towards Americans (or other tourists) comes from Paris (and I'm not joking this time). Did you know they were Japanese shrinks working in Paris to help Japanese cope with their stay in Paris?
To answer your question, mainland accent is understood everywhere. I even travelled to French speaking countries in Africa and had no problem whatsoever!
I agree with Suki.
As a French native speaker, I sometimes find it hard to talk to Quebecois or to our friends from the Caribbeans because they tend to add a lot of slang which makes their French almost a foreign language.
You should aim for mainland French although there are southern and northern accents comparable to a certain extend to Texan accent in US English.
There is no such thing as a parisian accent! (non parisian offended here!... I'm joking!). Parisians are the most hated spieces in France even in Paris! :)
If you just want to learn French for your own interests and for travel, it would probably most useful to learn standard European French. Whether your teacher comes from Paris or Toulouse, Lausanne or Brussels, it really doesn't matter - the French you would learn would be the same.
The French spoken is Quebec is very different from that spoken in Europe. Quebec French has its own very distinctive accent, and a lot of vocabulary and expressions that are unique to that region. The French spoken in the Caribbean is different again. If you have a particular reason to want to learn Canadian or Caribbean French - such as business or family connections - then you should do so. Otherwise, it would be best to keep your options open and go for the European version.
