Hello Ward,

06 Jul 18 09:22 at you wrote to me:

 WD> They speak 'Quebecois' which is probably derived from the old french
 WD> in the 1600-es and started to lead its own life. With a proper
 WD> knowledge of french you can get by, but it's not the real thing.

I have been told by my young co-workers that even the French can't speak 
French let alone Quebecois (that's the same name they used).  I am to the 
point now though that I can read and understand much of what they write in 
French.

 WD> I also found that english takes me where I want to go in Quebec, but I
 WD> think your brand new baby-faced ZC may disagree ...

I've been told in Quebec City, English is fine, but if you start getting out 
into the rural areas, you will probably be out of luck.

 WD> The thing is that the french language is monitored by the 'Academie
 WD> Francaise' which guards the language and keeps it uniform. As a result
 WD> you can still read the works of Moliere for example as they were
 WD> written back in time.

Much like the Danish language . . . and others, I'm sure.

 WD> Try that with the english of Shakespeare's time and you're doomed.

English is made up of so many other languages and dialects you're lucky to get 
it to follow its own rules most of the time.  A friend of mine who is a 
linguist and speaks 16 languages has told me that save for Mandarin Chinese, 
English is the most difficult language for non-native speakers to learn.  I 
can't say I don't blame them.  If it's not the language it's the grammar and 
punctuation rules that will throw them also.

However, I have several international friends who are better English speakers 
than most native English speakers I know. :)

Later,
Sean

... Not tonight, dear.  I have a modem.
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