Que vous veniez de France, de Belgique, de Suisse ou encore du Québec (et j’en passe), vous parlez tous français, c’est vrai. Mais est-ce que parfois il ne vous arrive pas d’entendre ou de lire des mots „français” que vous ne comprenez pas ou qui vous paraissent un peu obsolètes ou “périmés”, même parfois dans votre pays?

Si ce n’est pas le cas, et bien vous faites partie des quelques personnes qui connaissent tous les secrets de la langue française. Et croyez-moi, je ne pense pas qu’il soit donné à tout le monde de comprendre la langue française partout dans le monde, même pour les français eux-mêmes. La liste des différences est infinie et les exemples sont nombreux. Pouvez-vous compter à la façon des belges par exemple ? Moi, pas en tout cas.

Jetez juste un œil à ces quelques questions sur des expressions régionales et voyez par vous-même si le français parlé au Québec, en Suisse ou encore en Belgique est le même qu’en France, ou encore dans les DOM, les différentes régions françaises et certains pays d’Afrique. Les réponses aux questions se trouvent à la fin de ce texte.


Expressions belges
Comment les belges nomment-ils une décharge publique ?
Qu’est-ce qu’une « babelutte » ?
Qu’est-ce qu’une « drache » ?
Que dit un belge qui vous répond « ché nié » ?
Qu’est-ce qu’une « flatte » ?


Expressions africaines
En allant chez elle, je l’ai trouvée « façon façon ». Cela signifie que…
« Ça fait 2 jours ! », Cela sous-entend que…
Il est temps pour moi de « demander la route ». Je souhaite donc…
Un « 6 mètres » désigne…
Qu’est-ce qu’ un « au revoir la France » ?


Expressions Québécoises
Que désigne une « ruine babine » ?
Comment traduire l’adverbe « aussi » en joual ?
Quel est l’équivalent du « Bed and Breakfast » anglais ?
Quelle action décrit l’expression : « Souffler un tire » ?
Quelle expression signifie « avoir le regard perdu » ?

Expressions suisses
Si je « reviens d’abord », je reviens …
Que peut-on dire à une personne qui semble indécise ?
En français de Suisse, quelle est l’expression préférée à : « favorablement surpris » ?
Si « rien que de bon »…
En Suisse, quel métier exerce un « maître fruitier » ?

Expressions françaises régionales
Qu’est-ce qu’une « marrone » en vieux picard ?
Il n’est pas rare d’entendre dire à Marseille : « bon bout d'an ». Que signifie cette expression ?
Que désigne un « Faiseux d’grimaces » dans le nord de la France ?
Par quel autre verbe peut-on remplacer « dardeler », employé en Auvergne ?
Elle est une « toile » pour les Normands, une « cince » dans le parlé poitevin-saintongeais, une « wassingue » pour les Picards. Quelle peut être cette bien étrange et si utile chose ?

Réponses

Belgique

1. Un dépôt d'immondices.
2. Une friandise. Les « boules » est le belgicisme des bonbons.
3. Une forte averse. « Quelle drache ! » signifie qu’il tombe une averse (subite et forte). Une « drache » désigne également une tournée offerte dans un bar.
4. Je ne sais pas.
5. Une bouse de vache. Une « flatte » est une bouse de vache ; un « flat » un petit appartement ; et une « fricadelle » une boulette de viande hachée.

Et si vous voulez apprendre d’autres belgicismes, cliquez ici.

Afrique

1. Je l’ai trouvé bizarre. Expression employée dans plusieurs pays d’Afrique de l’ouest.
2. Ca fait longtemps qu’on ne s’est pas vu. C’est l’équivalent de : « ça fait belle lurette » ou « ça fait une éternité », expression très courante au Burkina-Faso.
3. Demander la permission de prendre congé. Au Burkina-Faso, on « demande la route » pour obtenir l’autorisation de prendre congé de son hôte. « Demander la route » est en fait une traduction littérale de certaines langues africaines.
4. Une petite rue non bitumée. Les petites rues de quartier non bitumées sont communément appelées « 6 mètres » à Ouagadougou. « Après la grande buvette à l’angle, tu prends le 6 mètres à droite et tu es chez moi. »
5. Une voiture d’occasion ramenée d'Europe.

Expressions Québécoises

1. Un harmonica. Le terme « musique à bouche » est aussi utilisé
2. Itou.
3. Un couette-café. On emploie également la forme « couette et café » suivie du nom du propriétaire.
4. Gonfler un pneu. Il n’est pas rare de voir au bord des routes québécoises des automobilistes « souffler un tire de leur char », c’est-à-dire « gonfler un pneu de leur voiture ».
5. Avoir les yeux dans la graisse de veau. On peut entendre les variantes « avoir les yeux dans la graisse de bines », ou « avoir les yeux dans le beurre ».

Expressions suisses

1. Tout de suite.
2. Tâte-dzénaille. « Tâte-dzénaille » se dit à une personne qui n’arrive pas à se décider, pour choisir le menu au restaurant par exemple.
3. Déçu en bien. On est « favorablement surpris » en français de France, et « déçu en bien » en français de Suisse.
4. Tout va bien.
5. Fromager.

Expressions françaises régionales

1. Un pantalon.
2. Bonne fin d'année. Quand d’autres se contentent de souhaiter une bonne fin de journée, à Marseille on souhaite une bonne fin d’année.
3. Un hypocrite.
4. Vibrer. Le verbe « dardeler » est formé à partir du mot berrichon « dardelâ » (frissonner, trembler de colère, de froid ou de fièvre).
5. Une serpillière.

Et voici un petit cadeau, a voir et à revoir : la bande annonce de « Bienvenu chez les Ch’ti ».

Whether we come from France, Belgium, Switzerland, or even Canada (and I could go on like that), we all speak French, that’s true. But sometimes, we can actually hear or read French words that we don’t even understand or that we know of but find obsolete or « out-of-date », even in our own countries. It can sound strange for foreigners, who actually think that wherever they learn French (this difficult language with all its tenses and grammar exceptions), they will be understood everywhere French is spoken. But this is a fact. Even I, as a French person, won’t understand much of what a person from Québec tells me if he or she only uses typical Québec expressions.

The list of differences is infinite and could never be completed as new expressions constantly come along, and examples of differences are numerous. This might be difficult to translate into English and get to my point, but I will try to use a few examples and typical expressions. Just have a look.

Belgium
What is the main difference between Belgium and France when it comes to speaking French? Well, first of all, expressions, and then again more expressions.
But what I would like to point out and which is very obvious for us, French people, or at least me, is how Belgian people count. Have you ever tried understanding a Belgian person giving you his or her phone number with their number system? Me, I did, and well, it sounded like Chinese for me. I know foreigners think that French people’s way of counting doesn’t make any sense. But since we are told this way, it sounds quite normal to me.

Here is how you would read out a phone number, both ways:
06.90.70.17.80: Belgium : zéro – six – nonante – septante – dix-sept - octante
06.90.70.17.80: France : zéro – six – quatre- vingt- dix – soixante-dix – dix-sept – quatre-vingt

Africa
Here is one easy example showing how you could actually end up getting lost in Africa.
In France, and in any other country I guess, we use the expression “Ask for directions” when we are lost or trying to get to a place we don’t know the address of. Well, then, be careful if you want to practice your French skills when visiting African countries where French is the main language. You might not end up getting the right answer.

The reason is simple. In Africa, and especially in Burkina Faso, if someone asks you for directions (“demander sa route”), he won’t be meaning that. He is simply asking you if he can take leave from you.

Québec
Although Québec is very far from France, well, they all speak French. Or I could say they actually speak “Québécois”. The French language from Québec has known a great influence from Canadian English, and this is why they have become professionals in the field of “Frenglish”.
They mix French, English, and Québec expressions altogether. You can then imagine how difficult it is for foreigners to actually understand what they are saying. And I won’t start talking about accents.
One example I could think of is the expression “Souffler un tire ». If you ask me, I would never have guessed the meaning of this expression. You can see it’s French but then comes in the word « tire »; which is not even a conjugated form of the French verb « tirer », no. It’s actually the word « tyre » written the US way. In “correct” French, we would say “gonfler un pneu”.

Switzerland
Switzerland is a multi-cultural country where German, Italian and French are spoken. But still, they have their own national applications of those languages. This is especially true when it comes to Swiss German. But Swiss French does not actually escape this rule.
You might not always find what you were searching for in Switzerland if you use “standard” French expressions or words. For instance, if you want to buy some cheese but do not know where the Cheese dealer is, well never ask them for a cheese dealer because they might give you wrong directions or you might get to another shop.

Why? Well, because in Switzerland and in French Swiss, a cheese dealer is not always called a cheese dealer (“fromager” in French) but a “fruiterer” (“maître fruitier”). It might sound strange but if you go to Switzerland and want to buy their lovely cheese, ask for the Fruit merchant and you will see if you find what you were looking for.

France and its regions
You have seen several examples of how misunderstandings could happen in all the French speaking countries depending on which part of the globe you are in. But, there is no need to go that far to see the differences in speaking French. French people are very proud of belonging to one specific region and as such, do not want to see their own dialects disappear. Therefore, you might sometimes meet people talking a mix of standard French and local dialects. This is especially true for such regions as Brittany, the Basque region in South of France, Alsace, and so on.

But lately, one dialect that has become famous is the “Ch’ti “dialect. Never heard about it? Well, it comes from the North part of France. They do not only have a very particular dialect, but also have a very strong accent and a special Ch’ti culture. Therefore, when everyone else in France will use the word for trousers “pantalon”, they will use the word “maronne”.

Have a look at this small video, which is an extract of “Bienvenu chez les Ch’ti”, a movie that nearly jumped at the top of most popular French movies from the past 50 years. And if you want to have an idea of what this could give in English, well, Will Smith bought the authors’ rights to produce an American version!

You might think straight away about English words that we use and most of the times modify them to suit our own languages. For instance, even we, French people, who are against using foreign words in everyday life conversation, have those words. Look at the word “to check” for example. Well, that would become the verb ”checker”.

But, in the end, there are not only English words that we use in any languages. And you might even have some surprises, seeing that many languages, at some point, picked up words from other languages. French words sometimes come from German, and not the contrary (Have a try at this test: ”Mots français d’origine allemande”.

Romanian and Polish actually have a lot of words coming from French and other languages that they modify to make them sound more “Polish” and “Romanian”. This way, even if you think you could actually understand a few words going there, well you’d be wrong, because it doesn’t sound the same or is written completely differently!

Anyway, if you wonder if you could actually visit a new country without even having to learn the basics in that language because they often use words from your own country, have a look at those articles. You will also learn a lot about countries and their cultures.

Italy: English | Italiano

New Zealand: English

Poland: English

Romania: English | Română

Sweden: English | Svenska

...

Romania (English and Romanian)
Romanian Heritage
One Romanian guy, part of the majority of people who know that Romania isn't sufficiently promoted as a touristic destination, decided to make a positive contribution. This website is the result of 3 years of hard work, taking photographs of all the UNESCO sites in Romania. I myself was amazed to see how many beautiful places - yet not visited - there are. So, I invite you to make yourself comfortable and start navigating through the website.
Tip: Next to each photo there is also an info button which will provide you a lot of details about the photo you're looking at.

France (English)
"21 Accents": Check out this video and discover what is your accent when speaking English and find out which accents are very difficult to copy!

Un beau vrai casse-tête (French)
This Sunday, every French citizen will have to face a big problem: How to fit in the same day...the Mother´s Day festivities, the French Open Final and the European elections? This could lead to a high rate of abstention! The politicians will know who to put the blame on this time!

Brazil (Portuguese)
Maiores palavras da língua portuguesa
A list of the 6 longest words in Portuguese. The longest one has 46 characters. The top 3 are words probably 99% of the population never heard of, while the 4th, 5th and 6th positions are words commonly used in the Hangman games They end up very easy to figure out...

India (English)
Creme That Egg - Rube Goldberg
Heard of Rube Goldberg machines? Hellishly complicated mechanical contraptions that do the simplest tasks. Here's a video of a machine that smashes a Cadbury Creme Egg. Fascinating how some people have so much free time on their hands, huh?! A very interesting video.

New Zealand (English)
Grammarphobia.com
English grammar blog updated daily with questions and answers about some of the strange grammatical ways of the English language. Also has a useful list of English grammatical myths, and how the language is evolving.

Venezuela (English)
25 Classic Books That Have Been Banned
An article with a list of classic books that have been banned for different reasons.

USA (English)
The Joy of Tech
A simple flow chart showing what steps Apple take to insure quality control in the Appstore and how the approval system works.

Sweden (English)

Russia (English)
Crouching tigers, stirring dragons
“Which foreign language to learn?” is the eternal question of all generations. One of the reasons that might formulate the decision is direct economic opportunity connected to language knowledge. The following article is a good source to make people start learning Indian, Chinese, and Japanese languages. Since even during the credit crunch, these countries seem to be better off in economic development than other countries, creating more job opportunities and bringing more profit.

Romania (English)
Hidden Romania
I keep on feeding your curiosity about Romania with this blog, where you can find valuable information about Romania, all written in English. I sincerely recommend reading the article about Dracula's castle and, for holiday lovers, choosing the villages from the Danube Delta, where the beauty of the beach is still unspoiled by the instrusive human touch.

New Zealand (English)
Listen to English - Learn English
A blog for people learning English. You can listen to podcasts about current topics and worldwide events. Also has interesting quizzes, tips, and transcripts of the podcasts so you can read along to further your understanding.

Russia (Russian)
Путин Владимир Владимирович
Due to very “atypical” career (Army, KGB, foreign intelligence) former president of Russia is fluent in several European languages. Want to know more what factors were crucial in his language education? Get into the blog about one of the most powerful leaders of the new Russia.

Japan (English)
Welcome to Butlers café!
In Tokyo there is a very popular café called Butlers café! How is it different from regular cafés? Well, only women can get in! Only good-looking Western guys are working at the café as waiters, and they even call you "Princess". Want to go? Sure, please have a look at this website.

Brazil (Portuguese)
Erros mais comuns que os brasileiros cometem ao falar inglês
Some of the most common mistakes Brazilians make when speaking English. Read, learn & have fun!

Venezuela (Spanish)
"Tráfico multa a un coche de bomberos por ir rápido para apagar un incendio"
In Valencia, Spain, a firefighter receives a speeding fine. The fire truck he was driving got caught by the radar as an infractor when going over the speed limit to assist in an emergency.

Poland (English)
Thank God It's Friday
A new creative challenge every week! A blog created by two scrapbooking, stamping, craftwork enthusiasts who share their pieces of art with the world and challenge others to send them their own works on a topic specified every Friday. Enjoy some art of today during weekends!

India (English)
Friday Versus Monday
Well, we all love Friday. We thank God it's Friday. But is it really necessary to have Monday following so soon after? This video shows a pretty appropriate parallel in Nature for our contrasting opinions on Friday and Monday.

France (French and English)
Arrêté pour un tee-shirt subversif
Find out how and why a Chinese man got arrested because he was wearing a T-shirt saying something a former Chinese politician said.

Brazil (Portuguese)
Como fazer um bebê
How to make a baby: Video created by a couple during the 9 months before the birth of their baby. Quite cute & fun.

Romania (English)
Bucharest Weekend
More and more people are now heading towards an adventurous holiday in Eastern Europe, and Romania is probably in the top of their lists. While some still think that in Bucharest you can find sheep herds on the main boulevard, others have actually given it a try and made their own impressions: ”Bucharest did look like a beautiful European city, full of lights and very vibrant. It felt metropolitan and sophisticated, and the people are very friendly”. Find out more on this blog and then come to see for yourself!

Italy (English)

The Video-Report from one young Italian woman having a great international experience in Kenya.

Venezuela (Spanish)
"Empresa alemana instalará cajeros automáticos que entregarán oro"
German company plans to set up 500 gold ATMs in Austria, Switzerland and Germany as they consider people do not trust traditional assets anymore. At the price of 31 euros you'll get a one-gram piece of gold.

Japan (English)
Japangrish?
If you have a chance to visit Japan, you will see a lot of English signs under Japanese's. It’s very creative most of the time, I would say. You want to see some examples? Sure, this site introduces you to all of them.

Russia (English)
Whose backyard?
It is time to relax for ordinary people and enjoy life, bank holidays, and languages! But for some of them, like bigger actors, such as states, also try to find a common economics language. Here is an example how Russia, Europe, USA, and some Eastern European countries try to solve this problem and find a common language. So far, worthless.

France (English and French)
French people listen to a lot of English songs, but except for those who speak English perfectly, we don't really udnerstand the lyrics. And we most of the time wrongly interpret them. Here are a few examples of how French people interpret English songs!

India (English)
Nailing jelly to a wall: is it possible?
You know the saying, "It's like nailing jelly to the wall", to mean that something is difficult or near to impossible? Well, here's somebody who decided to defy that saying by nailing jelly to the wall. Did it work? Look at the pictures. Pointless, but fun!

This can be done at any age, and well, there is no proper way to find love. But there are more appropriate ways to make sure that the person you like or just found interesting could be your perfect match. No matter what, it always starts there: the Flirting stage!

Scary, right? Well, obviously, some are more likely to be good at flirting, and some others just don’t understand the meaning of it! There are many techniques, and you can even find agencies that help you through flirting in several stages. But, in the end, there is no secret pick up line that will work for everyone and everywhere around the globe. And flirting evolves with time. What worked a decade ago is obviously going to be considered “cheesy” nowadays. This is exactly the case in France for example. The romantic approach might not be the best one. Well, if you need a few tips, just have a look at this test.

So, just because there is no perfect technique and approaches when it comes to flirting and because we are no “Flirting” professionals, we just decided to tell you “what not to do or say” in our own countries. Why? Well, because we don’t know what works but we definitely know what doesn’t work!

Have a look at this articles in which you will find the cheesiest pick up lines in several countries:

France: English | Français

Latin America: English | Español

India: English | हिंदी

Sweden: English | Svenska

...

Brazil (Portuguese)
Os Verdadeiros Contos De Fada
Here you can read some of the real story behind the fairy tales. Not everything is as nice as it looks: back in the origins some of the fairy tales like Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty or Snow White have some ugly stories - and not all of them have a happy ending.

Italy (English)
Silvio Berlusconi: An Italian Mirror
What does the international press think about Berlusconi??
To be fair, foreign media sometimes exaggerate the incidents. Calling out to the American President in front of Queen Elizabeth II, after the official photo op at the G-20 in London ("Mr. Obamaaa! I'm Mr. Berlusconi!") was a lovely Borat moment — harmless, and quite funny.

Venezuela (English)
Pentagon's Facebook, Twitter Accounts Used To Seek Young Recruits, Spread Message
The Pentagon is relying on Facebook and Twitter to reach future soldiers and to spread the word about the Army's accomplishments.

Japan (English with Japanese subtitles)
Racial issues are such sensitive to talk about. It depends on how one says or expresses. But the way describing Asians in the comedy show is
big ok and makes you so laugh. You can sing the song with them “He is an average Asian”

Romania (Romanian)
Cartea Nunții
Nowadays few couples actually decide to get married in a traditional Romanian way. This is how it looks like!

New Zealand (English)
Berlin Wall still selling, but commoditised
This year is the 20th Anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. Meet the man who now "owns" a lot of this divisive icon and how he is cashing in on it. What do you think about being able to buy a tiny piece of the Berlin Wall to take back home with you after your German holiday is over?

India (English)
"Subtitle movies..."
Bollywood movies are infamous for the badly translated - and unintentionally hilarious - subtitles. Here you can pick a movie scene and add subtitles of your own, with funny consequences!

France (Franglais - Mixture of French and English)
La Petite Lesson En Francais
Have you ever been annoyed by people mixing up languages like French with English. Well, here you can have an overview of what this sounds like and if you want to practice, this site gives you specific lessons. And well, because I think the One best example of the use of Franglais is Jean-Claude Vandamme, have a look at this video:

Wondering about the time when French women were easy to flirt with? Well, apparently French women are no longer impressed by short romantic phrases or languorous glances in the subway. This is sad because men don’t often dare to attempt a flirtation and risk being slapped across the face after only 2 seconds!

I guess times are changing. French women might not be sensitive anymore to the well-known French romanticism! Which is why some approaches and pick-up lines that might sound perfectly acceptable to men, well, are completely “has-been”. So if you’re planning on a trip to France and wish to flirt along with French ladies, here is exactly what you should not say or do!

I literally translated from French to English, but I guess you will get the big idea out of it! And if you have more suggestions to do, don’t hesitate!

You have really beautiful eyes, you know!

You know, I think your parents are going to become my parents-in-law.

Mais où est passé le temps où il était si facile de draguer une femme en France ? Et bien, il semblerait que les femmes françaises ne se laissent plus trop impressionner par des petites phrases charmantes ou tout simplement un regard langoureux dans le métro par exemple ! C’est dommage, car du coup, les hommes n’osent plus trop draguer et risquer de se prendre une gifle après deux secondes.

Cette petite vidéo nous donne un petit aperçu de ce phénomène en France : L’homme et l’art de la drague

Les temps changent. Les femmes françaises ne sont sans doute plus aussi sensibles face au romantisme ! C’est pourquoi certaines approches qui peuvent vous paraître tout à fait efficaces à vous les hommes, et bien, sont totalement ringardes. Et au risque de vous décevoir, voici mon petit top des approches et expressions pour draguer que je trouve assez ringardes et qui me font vraiment sourire !

Cette liste est juste un petit aperçu, n’hésitez pas à la compléter ! Ou a donner des conseils en matière de drague à la française.

T’as de beaux yeux tu sais !!!

Tu sais, je pense que tes parents vont devenir mes beaux-parents.