To preface, I’m a anglophone minority (East Asian) living in Canada in Quebec, Montreal.
I’ve bounced around between learning languages (beginner) and generally seek out communities where the language is predominantly being used. Spanish and Arabic people are always super eager to help with pronunciation and are friendly and patient. If it’s not language and just cultural exchanges, Italians, Greek and Jewish friends are always very welcoming.
In the end I’ve decided to focus on French, because I live in Quebec and I want to make the most of it. I’m not just working in a French environment but also go to a French university. Over the past two years, I’ve seen huge improvements.
But I need more than just academic/professional French - I need to understand and hear more of the casual, social phrasings.
But it’s a real struggle. Even though I have no issues reading and writing in French, I obviously have an accent when I speak. I struggle making French friends in university and at work even when I put the effort to speak French, I feel most of the time francophone people just avoid me if possible (even to the point of not making eye contact for a casual hello).
....it’s really weird. I grew up in an anglophone environment and for the most part we were diverse and I have never encountered anything like this with other cultures. Even with French people from Africa or the Middle East. This seems to be very specific with local québécois
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from Survey | Languagelearning https://ift.tt/2pcrbL6
via Learn Online English Speaking
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