What type of French is taught in schools?

37 comments

1. France’s French

2. Only French I’ve seen at the schools I went to was France French. You’d likely see Canadian French in states closer to the Quebec border though.

3. All foreign languages in the US are taught in the most “proper” sense, which I guess is the best place to start.

   Starting with more colloquial or regional language just isn’t a good starting place. I took a few semesters of Italian in college and while I was there a great Italian film called Gomorra was released. We had an extra credit assignment to go to the local theater and do a report on it. I did it and my report, en Italiano, basically said to the professor I didn’t understand more than 5 God damn words in this movie. That’s what she was looking for. It would be like a person new to English watching Brad Pitt’s parts in Snatch.

4. Not everywhere teaches it, but I have only ever seen France’s French.

5. I learned Parisian/continental French in high school and a bit of Cajun French in New Orleans later.

6. France’s French in theory, but in practice, French speakers are pretty rare and especially in the northeast, many of them are from Quebec.

   Even if they teach from a book with the rules for French French, they speak Quebecois French. My high school had one Quebecois teacher and one teacher who learned French as a second language and studied in France. They didn’t always see eye to eye on what kids learned.

7. Parisian French, I believe Louisiana has started to teach Cajun French in schools though since they realized trying to eradicate it was kind of a dick move.

8. In the Acadiana region of Louisiana, they offer university courses in Acadian French. We have French immersion schools with teachers from Belgium, Canada, and France. Incidentally, I learned we also have Chinese immersion schools in the region. As for which dialects of French are taught, all of the major ones it looks like.

9. Parisian French, but some Québécois sneaks in.

10. French French. Though our German class taught us Hochdeutsch since it’s the universal dialect of German. Occasionally We’d be taught differences between some words in Austrian German or Swiss German.

11. When I was in school in NC, I learned France French vs Canadian. That was jr high, high school & college.

12. original recipe

13. “Hon hon hon oui baguette sil vous plait” type of French

14. France French, but with some exposure to/awareness of Quebecois due to being in Upstate NY.

15. Typically France’s French. But in the case of my high school, it wasn’t. We did have German though

16. Parisian French. I learned Parisian French because it is the standard. We don’t learn any regional North American dialects in school.

    I have a degree in the French language and it was all done in Parisian French.

17. Raised in New England and learned France’s French. My high school teacher was born in Québec and still taught Parisian French. Maybe there are places near the Canadian border where you would learn Canadian French.

18. Metropolitan French with brief mentions of African, Louisianan, and Quebecois

    California, early 00s

19. Honestly, depends on the teacher. My French teacher taught us Northern French, very intentionally not teaching us Parisian. She would also tell us from time to time how what she was teaching was different from Parisian or Québécois, but it was obvious that she had a lot less respect for both.

20. French French in school, but my family speaks New England French so I picked up that as well.

21. I’d say the concentration is on France, but it probably depends on where your teacher learned French. One of my HS teachers went to school in Canada to learn. One in college was from Belgium. I couldn’t tell a difference (other than speed) because I wasn’t very good at speaking French.

22. My friend learned Haitian French, but that was at home.

23. Kissing?

24. I was taught Parisian French, which was really weird considering my town was as close as an American town can get to Montreal. So close our signs were in English and French. So close Quebecois would dock their boats at our marinas because the taxes were lower. So close the Quebecois would ‘summer’ in cabins on the lake in our town because it was cheaper than Canada. Think, French-Canadian dachas. Yet, in school, we were taught Parisian French.

25. My wife took French in High school and she was taught in the style of France.

    Spanish is generally taught in Mexican style. Teachers will mention there’s some differences in Spain but don’t teach it.

26. I learned Frances French, but my teacher was from Switzerland so I do believe we did learn a bit of Swiss French as well, mostly some of the slang she taught us, not anything official.

27. Depends on the school district. I’d assume most teach parisian french but schools near Canada probably teach the Canadian version and in Louisiana lean towards that version. A large part is what kind of teacher can they find and which version do they speak.

28. My wife took French in high school, and mentioned it primarily being France’s French. However, she also mentioned that the class briefly used Quebec French for a few scenarios from the textbook.

29. France’s French. They do teach about some of the differences in dialects throughout the Francophone world, but only briefly.

30. France type, not Quebec.

31. Metropolitan French I’d assume.

32. Specifically, Parisienne French. At least when I was in high school.

33. Parisian-dialect, France’s French is the textbook standard form of French widely taught in American schools.

    I’m sure there are exceptions in some places, but broadly speaking, it’s France’s French that’s taught in the US when someone studies that language.

    Edit: The textbook is in France’s dialect, but teachers often will unofficially throw in elements of Quebecois dialect, because some will go to Quebec to practice the language in everyday use and pick up elements of Quebecois which they bring back and teach.

34. Typically it’s Parisian French. It may differ if your instructor went to school in a different area.

35. i didn’t take French but my friends did. they mostly learned Parisian french, but they also learned enough Quebec French to understand that the dialect is different and how to get around in both countries.

    Fwiw, I took Spanish and learned Mexican Spanish, but also learned the extra verb tense for Spain Spanish. Which I now completely forget bc no one uses it in the Americas.

36. Real French, not Canadian hillbilly speak

37. Real French, not Canadian hillbilly speak