PaulRyckier wrote:

Have you ever heard a French-Canadian speaking French?

To my non-native ears at least, the main difference between French accents is in the pronunciation of the vowels. The letter ‘a’ when followed by the letter ‘n’ being a good example. For instance the word ‘blanc’ in Parisian French is pronounced like an ‘o’ as in ‘blon’,  while in the West of France it’s pronounced more like an ‘a’ as in ‘blan’, and in the South of France it’s pronounced like a ‘e’ as in ‘blen’.  Similarly, the letter ‘e’ when followed by the letter ‘n’ is also pronounced like an ‘o’ in Parisian French. So ‘enfant’ is pronounced ‘onfon’. In the West it’s pronounced like an ‘a’ as in ‘anfan’ and in the South like an ‘e’ as in ‘enfen’. There’s a similar pattern with the letters ‘i’ and ‘u’ particularly when each is followed by the letter ‘n’. This may, of course, be a huge oversimplification.

With the French accents of North America such as in Quebec and Louisiana, then there is a view that these developed as a result of the blending of the accents of sailors and settlers from the West of France along with those of orphaned girls from Paris who in the 17th and 18th centuries were sent out each with a trousseau sponsored by the king and queen as potential spouses of the colonists. Some suggest, however, that this story could be apocryphal.

Vizzer wrote:

To my non-native ears at least, the main difference between French accents is in the pronunciation of the vowels. The letter ‘a’ when followed by the letter ‘n’ being a good example. For instance the word ‘blanc’ in Parisian French is pronounced like an ‘o’ as in ‘blon’,  while in the West of France it’s pronounced more like an ‘a’ as in ‘blan’, and in the South of France it’s pronounced like a ‘e’ as in ‘blen’.  Similarly, the letter ‘e’ when followed by the letter ‘n’ is also pronounced like an ‘o’ in Parisian French. So ‘enfant’ is pronounced ‘onfon’. In the West it’s pronounced like an ‘a’ as in ‘anfan’ and in the South like an ‘e’ as in ‘enfen’. There’s a similar pattern with the letters ‘i’ and ‘u’ particularly when each is followed by the letter ‘n’. This may, of course, be a huge oversimplification.

With the French accents of North America such as in Quebec and Louisiana, then there is a view that these developed as a result of the blending of the accents of sailors and settlers from the West of France along with those of orphaned girls from Paris who in the 17th and 18th centuries were sent out each with a trousseau sponsored by the king and queen as potential spouses of the colonists. Some suggest, however, that this story could be apocryphal.

Vizzer,

yes French accents to my non-native ears (I had only real contact and learning French from native speakers from my 16 on) are for me indeed also as you say. And one has not to forget, that the "official French" allover France only exists from perhaps Napoleon and the later armies of the Third Republic. The army a melting pot of dialects, which, I guess, gave birth to a kind of local tinted "creolic". I think that MM made once some message about it. As I mentioned it here upstream the thread, it is the same overhere in Belgium. And yes, diphthongs, can have also regionally quite some difference as some combinations of a vowel and a consonant...

Re: French accents in North America, Canada..."les filles du Roy"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King%27s_Daughters
It was one of my first discussions on the BBC board in 2002. Why the US and Canada didn't speak French nowadays?
The few King's daughters could perhaps influence the language, but in numbers they couldn't compete with the younger disinherited sons of English farms, seeking a new life in British colonies in North America...

Kind regards, Paul.

Although countries and regions have similar accents, everyone has their own voice. People can tell who is on the phone as soon as they hear your voice, even though they have the same accent. Henry Higgins had it right/wrong when he tried to change Eliza's voice.

I remember once when I was at a meeting sitting in front of a woman and her child, whom I had never met before. The next day, in my work, I had occasion to ring the mother and the child answered the phone and I just asked to speak to her mother and she said, "Mum, it's that lady we were sitting behind at the meeting." I was very impressed, but it also imprinted on my memory how individual our voices are.

My wife and her sister sound identical on the phone (but not in person)