When you study French in France, you learn about Charlemagne, the Hundred Years War, Joan of Arc, the Bourbon dynasty, Louis XIV, Marie Antoinette, the French Revolution, Versailles, and Napoleon Bonaparte. When you study French in Quebec, you learn about the explorers Jacques Cartier and Samuel de Champlain, as well as the Alqonquins, the Montagnais, …
Tag Archives: Quebec
École Québec Monde
I’ve been studying French since middle school. I went to France for the first time, with my parents, when I was in high school. I got a kick out of ordering in French in restaurants and using French in the hotel. There were mistakes, of course. Like the time we ordered “douze escargots pour tout …
Le Monastère
Le Monastère des Augustines–a monastery converted into a hotel, museum, and wellness center–is an unusual place to stay. As the Web site of the Monastère explains, “On August 1, 1639, three sisters from the Augustinian order” came to Quebec and set up “North America’s first hospital north of Mexico” (“Authentic and Original Concept”). They came …
Silence
Silence. It’s an unusual way to begin two weeks of French language study in Quebec. But I’m staying at the Monastère des Augustines, and breakfast (what the French call le petit dejeuner and the Québecois simply dejeuner) is served in silence–well, almost. The servers ask in a whisper if I want coffee and what my …
Tour de French: French Books and Culture from around the World 