French at La Ronde?

[TombRaiderFTW]

This might be a semi-random question for a Kings Island forum, but since this is basically the only coaster forum I post on anymore and I know a few posters here have been to La Ronde:

There's a decent chance that I will go to La Ronde at some point in my life. However, I can't seem to get a definitive answer from the Internet on whether or not there's any sort of language barrier involved in visiting. Montreal seems to have a huge (and even law-enforced) attachment to the French language due to its history, and everything from the roads to the rides at La Ronde have French names. It doesn't seem like there's a large number of people in Canada that speak French, but the ones that do have defended their right to do so to the place that it is severely frowned upon/fineable for businesses to greet their customers in a way that does not include French. Online sources say everything from "oh, businesses will greet you in both languages, so don't worry about learning French" to "LEARN FRENCH OR DIE". I have been learning French for the past few months, but I don't consider myself fluent in any sense of the word and probably won't consider myself as such until I've studied it for a few years.

So, for those of you that have been to La Ronde:

1. Is there a language barrier at the park? Is it difficult to establish that you don't speak French (if, of course, you don't speak French)?

2. Is there a language barrier outside the park, e.g. at hotels in Montreal? It seems like most road names are in French, but I don't know how prominent the language is elsewhere.

3. What is your favorite ride at the park? (This has nothing to do with French; I'm just curious. )

Any help you all can offer is appreciated!

[BB1]

En Montreal, ils parlent francais, oui bein sur! Mais, a La Ronde, je ne sais pas que vous puissiez le savoir de francais.

In Montreal, they speak french, yes of course! But, at La Ronde, I don't know that you need the knowledge of French.

[thedevariouseffect]

French is a big deal in Montreal..moreover the entirety of Quebec. I took two full years of French in High School. Not perfectly fluent in any means, but quite enough to get by and read/write. Learn PROPER phrases (vous, nous, etc.) not Il/Elle. Formality will be important honestly. Among friends, ok, but someone you don't know or in a public setting, use the propers.

But biggest thing, learn how to ask questions. If you can put together the subject, tense, and conjugation of verbs correctly, you will look knowledgeable, but that knowledge will make it easy to get the answer, especially if spoken in a proper sense, not slang. Plus if you learn to write it, written questions can help too, as people who normally speak French do it VERY quickly. You may need to have them write it, or if you can't get it down correctly they may be able to piece it together.

This really had me thinking..With all the advances in great technologies, society, human limits, etc. We still have to learn how to communicate..astonishing

[Fire-Beast-OF FEAR]

Nos Amours Les Expos! Is about as much French as I know and I haven't needed to use it since 04'. Have fun on the trip. I lived in both Montreal and Toronto and in my opinion Montreal it's more of an American city than Toronto withholding the language barrier. If you want to stay in an English part of town try the West side of the island closer to the airport or on the very south side across the river closer to Vermont.

[Ride On_17]

Je parle français, parce-que j'ai une classe de français quatre à l'école.

Bonus points to anyone who translates this, which it seems shouldn't take too long since there have been multiple people talking in French in this thread already.

[thedevariouseffect]

Wow...haven't had French since 2010..picked that up quick...

Now..can you turn sentences to futur proche with ease :-)

[Ride On_17]

Je vais visiter Kings Island c'été.

Futur proche is nothin'. Even futur antérieur, conditionnel, imparfait, and the other more complex tenses are pretty easy now.

[faeriewench]

This might be a semi-random question for a Kings Island forum, but since this is basically the only coaster forum I post on anymore and I know a few posters here have been to La Ronde:

There's a decent chance that I will go to La Ronde at some point in my life. However, I can't seem to get a definitive answer from the Internet on whether or not there's any sort of language barrier involved in visiting. Montreal seems to have a huge (and even law-enforced) attachment to the French language due to its history, and everything from the roads to the rides at La Ronde have French names. It doesn't seem like there's a large number of people in Canada that speak French, but the ones that do have defended their right to do so to the place that it is severely frowned upon/fineable for businesses to greet their customers in a way that does not include French. Online sources say everything from "oh, businesses will greet you in both languages, so don't worry about learning French" to "LEARN FRENCH OR DIE". I have been learning French for the past few months, but I don't consider myself fluent in any sense of the word and probably won't consider myself as such until I've studied it for a few years.

So, for those of you that have been to La Ronde:

1. Is there a language barrier at the park? Is it difficult to establish that you don't speak French (if, of course, you don't speak French)?

2. Is there a language barrier outside the park, e.g. at hotels in Montreal? It seems like most road names are in French, but I don't know how prominent the language is elsewhere.

3. What is your favorite ride at the park? (This has nothing to do with French; I'm just curious. )

Any help you all can offer is appreciated!

I have a couple French-Canadian friends that go to that park (they're regulars), as well as Canada's Wonderland and Marineland. They speak and understand English quite well for the most part. Though at times I find myself considering learning French, I think they converse more easily in French. Spanish and Russian is enough for me right now.

[thedevariouseffect]

I still hate that conjucation. Especially with the Vandertramp verbs or whatever they were, that's been awhile for me

[medford]

I've only been to Montreal briefly (flew into the airport, then drove to Cornwall, which is the Eastern most city near the border in Ontario for a job that we were doing across the river in upsate New York) but I'll venture its like most other places where something other than English is the primary language. You'll have no trouble finding someone that can help you around, but life will be far easier if you can learn a few small phrases in French. People tend to open up a little more if you know a little of their language.

I don't know if this applies to Montreal or not, but in Europe, there are many people who go out of their way to help American tourists as it gives them a chance to practice their English when they spend most of their time speaking German, Spanish, Italian, etc.. Like anywhere else, you'll encounter people who don't want to be bothered by "the American" but you'll find far more people that are more than willing to point you in the right direction or assist in any questions you have.

[BB1]

I still hate that conjucation. Especially with the Vandertramp verbs or whatever they were, that's been awhile for me

That's Dr. Mrs Vandertramp to you.

I speak french, and speak it often.(Yes, I translated all of your sentences!)

[violakat03]

From friends of mine that frequent the park, you will definitely want to know at least the essentials in French as there is certainly a chance you will come across park employees (or employees of businesses you will visit outside the park, such as restaurants and hotels) that speak no English.

Working in a park with a huge percentage of Spanish-speaking guests, I can tell you the most important things to learn will be: directions (left/right/by/across, etc), numbers (heights, wait times), the words for bathroom, entrance and exit. I took 3 years of Spanish in high school but have forgotten essentially all of it. But I can tell you where the nearest bathroom is, how tall a child has to be (or that they have to sit with an adult) and how to get to the exit of my ride in Spanish just from how often I use those phrases!

Now, as for my suggestion on how to learn: Duolingo. It's a free website (and app). I have a coworker that is using it to learn Portuguese and he's definitely learned enough to communicate the essentials to Brazilian guests. I'm using it to re-learn my German.

[BB1]

Alright, after a bit of research, you may need a bit of French. In Canada, you will encounter French, and as well Franglais, or French with English built in.

Some of the main phrases you will probably need:

Ou es (oo e)_____ :Where is

La salle de bain (la sal de baen) :The bathroom

roller coaster: take a wild guess at that

Oui je vais prendre (oui ge vais prendre) : Yes, I will take

S'il vous plait rester tous les mains, les bras, les pieds, et les jambes a l'interieur du vehicle en tout temps (S il vous plai reste tous les mains les bras les pieds et les jambes a l'interieur du vehicle en tou temps): Please keep all hands, arms, feet, and legs inside the vehicle at all times.

Vous and tu are for you

il and elle are for he and shee

Je is for I

Nous is for us

Notre is our

Votre is your

Mon, ma, is my

Numbers are simple, un deux trois quatre cinq six sept huit neuf dix, etc

Oh, and do not say the female version of dog, and do not be scared if someone sais "raper", that means grate, if someone tries to speak in english and says rape, well, just laugh hysterically.

If all else fails, use Translate

[TombRaiderFTW]

Thank you, everyone, for the great help. Like I mentioned, I'm learning French currently. I do seem to get the impression that it won't hurt to know at least the basics, so I'll keep on keepin' on.

Now, as for my suggestion on how to learn: Duolingo. It's a free website (and app). I have a coworker that is using it to learn Portuguese and he's definitely learned enough to communicate the essentials to Brazilian guests. I'm using it to re-learn my German.

Funny enough, that's how I'm learning French now. It's a nice little app that's just enough of a game to keep my interest up, but it's not so cartoony that it seems cheesy. The thing that gets me with Duolingo is how differently its approach to the language is from how I learned Spanish in high school. I'm very used to learning things like standard rules for conjugating each type of verb (e.g. -ar, -er, and -ir verbs in Spanish), learning the alphabet before learning words, learning to count, etc. before plunging in headfirst and learning eons of verbs. Duolingo just kinda throws nouns and verbs at you for many lessons before they get to anything important, like how to say negative actions. It works well enough, but it's a little frustrating at times to learn present-tense verb conjugations in multiple lessons instead of seeing them all at once. At times, I get irritated with not knowing certain things in French, so I hit up Google and YouTube so I can learn it. I do feel like I'm making progress, though!

On that note: I did some very light research, and I'm pretty sure numbers above 60 in French are literally the most convoluted thing ever. Can you imagine if we spoke that way in English? "Yes, I'd like to buy a season pass for fifty twenty nine dollars and sixty twenty nineteen cents, please." I'm exaggerating, but still. It's funny to me how inconvenient that is.

Aussi, BB1: Merci! Je sais parler ces pronoms et ces mots. Que fais-je si je dois parler d'une chienne?! J'ai une chienne, donc je veux parler d'elle!

[BB1]

N'oubliez pas que le nom est pour mon ami, car en anglais, il est un nom terrible.