[0:00] Moving to a new country, it's exciting,
[0:02] but there is one thing that can completely shape your experience.
[0:06] Language. Our guest today is a language coach and the founder of My Polygot Life. Has lived between France and
[0:13] Canada, navigating both Anglophone and Franophhone worlds and helping others do the same through neural language coaching.
[0:20] A lot of French people move to Canada, Angophone Canada, and they think, "Oh,
[0:24] it's a bilingual country. I'll be able to get by in French." No, you won't. So French people coming to Vancouver,
[0:31] Toronto or other Canadian cities need to learn English fast. And that's how I started teaching. I started teaching English to French people who were like,
[0:40] I'm so lost. I cannot understand anything and I cannot speak.
[0:43] In today's episode, we explore what it really takes to build a life abroad through language learning. Not just memorizing words, but gaining
[0:51] confidence, connection, and a sense of belonging. Try it. You never know where it's Yeah,
[0:56] go for it. You never know where it's going to take you. I started learning Japanese as a hobby, like a challenge,
[1:02] personal challenge. Like some do crosswords, I did Japanese. I wanted to go deeper, so I applied for the assistant teacher position. I got it. I
[1:11] lived a year in Japan. Wonderful experience. Knowing a few words of the language breaks a barrier with the locals and it makes the experience
[1:19] richer. From feeling completely lost in a new country to discovering opportunities, cultures, and connections through language. Today on Almost Local,
[1:28] the living abroad story of Cathine Trigator. Let's start.
[1:40] Was born in France, born and raised in France. And I immigrated to Canada in 2009. So I must remember to update. It's
[1:50] been 17 years every year. I think it's 15 but years keep piling up. So 17 years ago I came to Canada. First in Vancouver
[1:59] and there I started a French bakery and then it was too much stress, too many
[2:06] commitments. And I moved to Montreal and became a French language coach. I'm still in Montreal to this day. I speak
[2:14] several languages. French and English are my strongest. Spanish comes next.
[2:19] The language of my heart is Spanish. And then um I've been learning over the years Japanese and Italian. I have some
[2:27] a few expert experiences too. So mainly in Canada, but I lived for one year in Japan as an English language teacher assistant.
[2:35] Nice. That's cool. Also Japan it has become very trendy lately. No. So everyone is kind of interested on it also. Where are you in France? actually from like uh exactly
[2:43] from the west coast near not so just under Britany between Britany and Bordeaux maybe like the first question would be
[2:51] like what brought you abroad in the first place like uh why did you decide 17 years ago to pack things and and live
[2:59] and cross over the sea actually know it's not moving close by yeah it's I've always wanted to live
[3:06] abroad to travel live abroad speak different languages so I started my I finished my studies in France but I did
[3:14] a one-year Arasmus exchange in Ireland and I really got the bug of living abroad. I wanted to leave that
[3:22] experience again but then when I came back to France got my degree started working fell into a routine Parisian
[3:29] life. I wasn't able to move abroad for a few years but then I found an opportunity. Well I just left. I had no
[3:37] work or anything. I left with a working holiday visa, but I waited for my partner to be ready to move as well. So,
[3:44] we went together and we chose Canada, I must say, because it was easy to get a visa at the time. So, we thought, okay,
[3:51] what are the possible places that we could immigrate to? We want somewhere that speaks English so we can both have work opportunities. So, that left Ireland. I wanted to go back to Ireland,
[4:02] but it was so popular with French people that I did not want to end up in a French circle abroad. So, ruled that
[4:09] out. The UK was a possibility. Canada and Australia, but Australia was too far or New Zealand was I didn't want to be
[4:16] so far away from my family. Canada is far, but not as far. And when we started researching online and looking into how
[4:25] it was like living in Canada, it seemed really awesome. beautiful landscapes,
[4:30] nice people, work opportunities. So that's how we decided to try working holiday visa there and also permanent
[4:38] residency because I wanted to live abroad for a few years, not just one year.
[4:42] Nice. Makes sense. I have a lot of questions like especially with the bulery part first. How did this come But maybe we touch first like you lived in
[4:50] both sides of Canada which is something also very curious because a lot of people like either lived in the like the French speaking side of it or the
[4:58] English speaking side in your case you touched both how different it is between themselves and how this shaped your experience in the country. It's two
[5:07] different countries really. When when the Quebecers say we're a nation within Canada, it's true. There's so many
[5:15] differences in the way of life and the way of thinking about life. It's two different countries, but also there's a lot in common. Like there's a common ground of being Canadian that I found.
[5:27] Maybe they don't see it themselves, but as an immigrant, I can see that there's some common layer of Canadianism. I
[5:34] don't know. But it there's also a lot of differences. If you take British Columbia, which is Vancouver and the West, and Alberta, there's also a lot of
[5:43] cultural differences there. It's almost two nations as well. Not nations, it's not because they have the same language and they share a lot more, but very
[5:51] different lifestyles in different provinces. If you take the north of Canada is different from the south part
[5:58] close to the US. And to me there's also there's something about being Canadian sharing some same values and culture but
[6:07] also because of the geography certain traits of British Columbombians are closer to northern Californians or
[6:16] Oregon Washington state in the US and Alberta with the southern counterparts in the US. So we have a mix of influences I would say.
[6:26] Interesting. And now we have the question like how did you arrive to the moment of trying to build a bakery a French bakery in the other side of the
[6:34] ocean and how was that experience? I mean you said that you intended like a little bit being stressing and overwhelming. um was
[6:42] yeah a very uh enriching personally enriching experience in terms of um building
[6:51] character and personality but it's also very tied to the expat experience because we left France with a dream of
[7:01] long-term project of maybe we could open like a little tea house in Canada. I know my husband loves baking. He's really good at it. So we were like, "Oh,
[7:11] maybe in the future down way down the road, we could have our little place and have people over and share our French
[7:19] pastries with the locals." And for the first year as a working holiday visa,
[7:24] you just get into whatever job you can get. And my husband started um cuz he was not into pastry at all. It was just
[7:32] a hobby in France. He was working for the TV industry, but was fed up with that work. So he wanted a change. So coming to Canada, he started working in
[7:41] bakeries and cafes to kind of get into it and learn on the job and I did like office work like I was doing in France.
[7:48] So we were there for like long-term project and then we got the permanent residency and a brand new mixer
[7:55] KitchenAid mixer that started the whole thing really. And we were like well it's it's not that hard to make pastries that taste good and there's not a lot of
[8:04] competition. At the time in Vancouver there was 2011 2012 there were not that
[8:11] many French bakeries. So there was room for a newcomer to start something. We started on farmers market, artisan
[8:20] markets, artisan fairs and we saw that people were responding positively. They were buying our stuff asking for more
[8:27] where can we find you or you're only at markets you don't have a store. So they started asking more from us and we got a store and then
[8:35] eventually we had our bakery after just two years of being in the country. Okay,
[8:40] that's and that's a big difference between France and Canada. In Canada,
[8:45] you have a project, you you do the like food safety certificates and you get the money, you can start your business and
[8:52] your bakery. If you fail, that's your problem. You tried and then you move on.
[8:57] In France, you could not start a bakery without going to pastry school for years and getting that degree. In Canada, you
[9:05] want to try, go ahead. You don't know what you're doing. Well, it's your problem. You will. And in the end, yeah, it's interesting.
[9:13] And in the end, it worked. Like my husband did not and I I learned on the job as well. We did not need to go to a
[9:20] school to get a degree to be able to make it happen and make good pastries. So in the end the bakery was successful.
[9:27] We had at some point like 10 employees. Oh wow.
[9:31] And so that's why Yeah. I said it was also easier and cheaper to get employees in Canada at the time than now it's
[9:39] different but still cheaper to hire people in Canada than in France. As as an employer you pay a lot less social
[9:48] taxes contributions so you can grow your business faster I feel. and yeah you get
[9:54] more opportunities. So everything went so fast we we got caught up in that uh project and uh we did not realized that
[10:04] running such a business would be so much stress and dealing with the staff and turnover and so that's why we decided to stop but we could have continued.
[10:14] So you had kind of a little bit of a burnout out out of the situation.
[10:18] Absolutely. what is your studies background studies like anything related with languages because how does this
[10:25] come then afterwards like to say oh I want to do language coaching so languages have been a passion of mine for as long as I've started learning
[10:35] languages I started when I was 10 with English then at school in France we have to pick a second language that was
[10:42] German then at university I started Spanish so I always loved learning languages but I studied in political
[10:51] science university. So I studied political science and communication at university and I didn't want to be a teacher at the time. That changed
[10:59] because I'm still not a teacher. I went into coaching because I did not want to be that teacher that I had in school
[11:07] that was going over the book and making you take the tests. That was not my approach of learning languages. I wanted
[11:13] to live the languages to live in the languages. That's why I saw expatriation and working in a different language as a way of really having those languages,
[11:24] not just learning them, but living in them. And that's why what I try to do with my clients.
[11:29] Nice. I mean, you talk about how do you like to teach languages and I know that it's kind of very specific what you do because it's not like the typical coaching or like following a book. No,
[11:40] probably it's like if correct me it's not if it's not the correct terms but I think it's neural languages coaching like how did you discover that what it
[11:49] is exactly probably how did you discover it and when did you decide that this is the way that you like it the most
[11:55] yeah so I when I took the decision of selling the bakery and moving on I looked at what I wanted to do and I
[12:03] worked with a coach a personal coach to do the transition a career transition and I really like this approach approach of coaching, how we worked together and
[12:11] how she was by my side, but also letting me have the initiative and work things out by myself. And I found I wanted to
[12:21] be able to travel more because when you have a bakery, you're tied to the bakery. You cannot travel as much as you want. So, I wanted a job that I could
[12:29] travel, help people, and speak languages. So, that's why I started googling language and coaching. And I
[12:36] found this uh lady Rachel Paling who created that approach neural language coaching that has three pillars. The
[12:46] neuro is for knowing how the brain works. Knowing about the brain works and knowing about the brain and explaining
[12:54] to the learner how the brain works and helping them figure out how their specific brain works because everyone
[13:01] everyone's brain is different. So I don't have the magic formula to help you learn languages, but together we can kind of figure it out and find what
[13:09] works. The second pillar is the coaching. So setting goals and uh accountability and working together, not
[13:17] like a top- down approach, but more horizontal. And then language is just sharing my knowledge about French. I also taught English to French speakers.
[13:26] So what I know about the language and helping them express their opinions and ideas with their own voice and their own words so that they're not just uh
[13:35] rehashing what they saw in a book that is not connected at all to their daily life.
[13:40] Who are your main clients and like majority are like other foreigners who are moving to Canada or like or you have
[13:47] clients all over the world teach basically. Yeah. But I work online. So
[13:56] for I think time different reasons. Most of my clients are in North America and Europe. Some of them live in French
[14:05] Canada or work with people who speak French in Canada. Some people live in France or Switzerland, Belgium, and they
[14:12] want to be better at navigating daily life or business life in French. And other people just love the French language and they reach that high
[14:20] intermediate or advanced level, but they want more. They want to go deeper into the language and sound more native or
[14:28] understand native content. And um I I love helping advanced people because they have really specific questions and we can go into the cultural side of
[14:37] things and idoms and etiquette and all that all that um advanced language aspects. dig a little bit more deep into
[14:46] the conversation I suppose and like yeah it's interesting yeah I also have a lot of clients who speak multiple languages as well like French may be their third or fourth
[14:54] language was it related the fact of changing of profession again let's say like this into the move between Vancouver and
[15:02] Montreal was it the timing the same thing or like was it absolutely independent to to your change of career
[15:11] Montreal is very much part of that whole project because between 2009 when I arrived in Vancouver and 2018
[15:21] when I left the price the rents went crazy and my landlord decided to sell his house. So we had to move find
[15:29] another place and we could not find a place with a rent that was manageable with my plans of going abroad every year
[15:38] for two to six months. And so I would have to pay the rent, my share of the rent in Vancouver, but also my travel
[15:45] expenses. And Montreal was a lot more affordable at the time. Still is. It's going up in Montreal as well, but you can still find nice apartments for a decent price.
[15:55] Nice. We will go down now into the more like details about life in in Canada.
[16:00] One last question though because this triggered my curiosity 100%. Like you said that part of your plan was like including regular traveling into places.
[16:09] Is this something that you still do?
[16:11] Like is it something that you proactively search for to be outside of your comfort zone or your home for for some months per year?
[16:20] Yeah, I like slow traveling and immersion. Immersing myself in the language or culture. So that's why I went to Japan for one year.
[16:29] One year is a long time. I don't think I would do it again. Now I'm more comfortable with two, three months at a
[16:36] time, then coming back to Montreal and then leaving again. And also because my parents are getting older, I want to
[16:43] spend time with them. So every year I spent two to three months in Europe,
[16:48] like mostly in France, but I do side trips. That's why I learned Italian last year because I wanted to go to Italy and I wanted a easier language. So I uh
[16:57] decided on Italian so I could and to have an incentive to learn that language and not be too lazy. I booked a trip to
[17:05] Italy. I loved spending time in Barcelona. There's the neural language conference happening in siches near Barcelona. So I
[17:13] love spending a few weeks in Barcelona and immerse myself. I'm sorry I don't speak Catalan. I mean it's closer to French actually.
[17:20] I understand. I understand almost everything. I just cannot speak it. I live in Italy so actually I'm not speaking it much myself right now
[17:28] either. So although with family of course. Cool. Um I would say we jump directly to the to the fast reply question. So we immerse ourself for a
[17:37] little bit more into how is life in Canada right now. I mean I suppose there is difference as you said between Vancouver and Montreal. So maybe you you
[17:45] can choose whatever it fits better for each of the responses. First question that I have, it's a cultural adjustment.
[17:51] Like the thing that took you a while to adapt when you arrived.
[17:55] The structure of the day and time of the meals. I'm still not into Canadian rhythm. I cannot have dinner at 5:30 or 6. I'm sorry.
[18:04] Makes a lot of sense.
[18:06] Occasionally I will do, but it messes up my whole day. I'm still having dinner like between 7 and 8,
[18:13] which is early for our standards. So imagine it is.
[18:16] I cannot do that. would suffer much more 10:00 dinner for me like the Mediterranean dinner is too late for me like in between I'm I'm French like 7 to
[18:25] 8 makes sense second one that I have is social life how do you meet friends which resources did you have for meeting people
[18:33] so I I think it's not a mistake but when I came to Vancouver I started hanging out with other French people so all my
[18:41] friends were French I also hung out a bit with the couch surfing community but it takes a lot more effort to socialize
[18:49] with other foreigners I feel or even locals. It's easier I felt for me it's easier to socialize with people from my
[18:57] own country especially just as a new as a newcomer in Canada. And when I came to Montreal I wanted to avoid being only
[19:04] surrounded by French people. So I went to language exchange groups even when I travel abroad. That's my strategy now is
[19:12] looking for language exchanges and then you get to meet a lot of people. So mostly that sounds interesting. Talking about language, the third one was languages,
[19:21] but at the end you move knowing both languages of the country. Maybe I ask you something a little bit more generic
[19:28] in this one. Like do is there people moving with only speaking English to the French side and the other way around?
[19:35] Does it work for them at all? Does everyone in the in both sides are are bilingual or or you really need to immerse yourself in French in one side and English in the other?
[19:45] Yeah. So, it's a bit different on each side, but a lot of French people move to Canada, Anglo Canada, and they think,
[19:54] "Oh, it's a bilingual country. I'll be able to get by in French." No, you won't. So, French people coming to Vancouver, Toronto or other Canadian
[20:02] cities need to learn English fast. And that's how I started teaching. I started teaching English to French people who were like, I'm so lost. I cannot understand anything and I cannot speak.
[20:13] Okay? And if you come to Quebec, so Quebec is the province that whose official language is French. If you come to Montreal, you can get by in English,
[20:24] but there's a lot of push back for English only speakers. It's more and more with the current government we have. So, at least try speaking French.
[20:34] No one will be mad at you for speaking English, but try to show you're learning the language will go a long way. And if
[20:41] you go outside of Montreal to smaller cities, people speak mostly French and it's not the French that you learn at school. So you need to do like a side training to Quebec French.
[20:52] I see. Next one that I have is cost of living. I suppose like everywhere it went up, but how it is right now.
[20:58] Vancouver and Toronto. Crazy rents. The wages didn't go up the way rent went.
[21:06] It's I I don't know the current prices,
[21:09] but it's it's more than you could afford just by yourself. Even if you have a a good job, you'll have a small apartment.
[21:15] Montreal, you still have good opportunities. And it also varies a lot.
[21:20] Couple years ago, we had a apartment shortage. We you had 100 candidates for one apartment. This year is a bit
[21:29] different, especially on older in older buildings, but it's getting challenging everywhere.
[21:33] We're talking about it already. So the next one is actually finding a home. How do you people find apartments? What is the hardest or the part of the process?
[21:43] So you have websites and also Facebook like Facebook marketplace. Mhm.
[21:48] Word of mouth agencies. Of course, you also always have real estate agents that also do rentals. And it depends on
[21:55] there's a lot of scammers. At the height of the shortage, you would have like 10 scams and one legit ad for 100 candidates. So it can be challenging.
[22:05] Okay. Wasn't expecting that. Okay. Uh next one that I have it's living like a local. Like the thing that you need to
[22:13] do to blend in or the mistake that you need to avoid to not be the target. Let's say like this.
[22:19] Be polite. It's not a legend. Canadians are generally very polite. So line up for the bus. Leave a tip in the restaurant. And if you're in a Montreal,
[22:29] Toronto, or place where you have harsh winters, don't wear your Canada goose minus 30 jacket when it's only minus 5.
[22:38] Then people will know you're not a local.
[22:40] I mean, I went to Germany without boots also like I'm one of those. Next one that I have, it's work life. How would you describe the work?
[22:48] To me, it was very different from France. In France, people think we don't work. We have a lot of paid time off,
[22:57] paid vacation, but during the day we work from maybe 9 to 6. And even then,
[23:03] people are like, "Huh, you're living at 6:00. Isn't that a bit early?" Like, don't you want to do some overtime,
[23:08] unpaid, of course. So, there's I feel there's a pressure to be present at work. And in Canada, it was more okay,
[23:16] it's past 5, but you have not done your work or you're not organized or what's going on? and you're not doing your job well because you cannot complete your
[23:24] tasks within the workday. So I felt the pressure was lower. But one of the reasons I moved into being self-employed
[23:32] is that the minimum of two weeks paid vacation was not enough for me. Yeah, kind of makes sense. Yeah.
[23:39] Uh I'm always surprised about the amount of holidays on Canada and US to be honest. Like I'm always struggling with
[23:46] the idea of only having 10 days of holiday. Sorry. Um, next one that I have is getting around. What's the best way to get get around? Like, do you need a
[23:56] car or is the public transport good enough to get to places? Depends a lot where you live. If you live in city centers of big cities like Vancouver,
[24:04] Montreal, Toronto, you can get around by public transit. Now, if you want to go outside of the cities, you need a car because there's it's not like Europe.
[24:13] You don't have trains that go everywhere. You don't have trains. We're going to have our first highspeed train if everything goes well by 2030 maybe.
[24:22] Yay. And yeah, in smaller cities, you need a car.
[24:26] Next one, it's healthcare. How does the system work? Is it easy to access? Is the quality good?
[24:33] So, it's changing unfortunately a bit like in Europe. It's not like the US.
[24:39] Every one thinks we're like the US, but it's more like Europe where we have public social security. We're paying for
[24:47] health care through our taxes, but we don't have to have a private insurance.
[24:51] Quality is good, but you need to be patient. If you have a non-life-threatening
[24:58] disease or condition, you can wait two years to get an appointment with a specialist, and then they might say,
[25:04] "I'm not so sure. Let's check again in a couple years." So I had a friend who had back issues. It went on for 3 years in
[25:11] Canada. Then he moved to Norway. Within 6 months he had an operation, a surgery and he was able to live his life normally again.
[25:19] Next one also normally very hated bureaucracy, paperwork, visas, permits, how it is.
[25:26] It's bureaucracy. So it's the same as everywhere. Not the worst in the world, but still bureaucracy.
[25:32] It is slow. Is it digitalized at least or like it is it still very paperwork based?
[25:39] I haven't done cuz I've been a citizen for over 10 years now. So my latest visa
[25:45] and all that is behind me but I think a lot is online which is not always easier than paper and it's hard to talk to
[25:54] someone if you're trying to phone because they cut the budget for civil servants. It's hard to get answers with
[26:01] a real person. I see the next one that I have, it's the best and the worst. So, the best thing about living in Canada, the worst thing of living in Canada,
[26:09] best thing I would say is opportunities.
[26:11] No matter where you come from, what you've done before, if you put in the work and get out there, you can do
[26:18] pretty much anything you want. And worst thing, being far from my family and winter is very long. So, and it's you
[26:26] cannot win. I was in Vancouver. It was not cold, but it was rainy for three months and gray. And in uh everywhere
[26:34] else in Canada is cold. And spring is like two weeks in end of May or early June. Long winter, short spring, couple
[26:43] months summer and winter again. And yeah, a bit of uh fall is good.
[26:47] Autumn from September to mid October is really nice as well, but getting colder. Last one that I have of the questions,
[26:55] it's the top tip. If someone is planning to move there, what is your oneline advice?
[27:01] I think it's the same everywhere is manage your expectations. There's a lot of ads about Canada and older expats or
[27:08] people who moved here long ago and we were able to build a life and all immigrate. Immigration was a lot easier
[27:16] at the time. So, we have maybe this romanticized vision of Canada and our stories also emphasize the um positive
[27:24] aspects. But don't come here expecting paradise and that everything will be smooth and yay Isaac. It's you're still
[27:32] an immigrant. We we're seeing that now with people who came here with temporary visas and before it was you had that
[27:40] visa and it was the road to permanent residency and last year they changed the rules and they decided that well now you have to go back to your country. So
[27:49] being an immigrant is always you always have insecurity until you get your citizenship which is quite short in Canada. After 3 years I could get my
[27:57] citizenship. So that's but it's getting harder generally to permanent residency is getting harder.
[28:04] Okay dear thanks a lot for the whole response is like it was enlightening on the perspective of Canada. I actually interviewed not so long ago another guy,
[28:13] James, who who's a UK guy who's living in in Vancouver and he was exactly saying like Vancouver prices they are thinking about going back to UK because
[28:20] they cannot pay the apartments and it's just like so you're the second person who is saying that. So thanks a lot for sharing your your part of the story and
[28:28] and I think the audience will really enjoy that. I would jump to the miniame.
[28:33] I call this one true or false France versus Quebec edition like uh to dig a little bit more into these kind of myths
[28:40] and probably at base and uh probably not so true statements and things that we
[28:47] learn about Quebec in comparison to France especially in Europe. So basically I would tell you one sentence and you tell me if that is true or false
[28:54] at all and if you have any any short story or anecdote or any experience with it uh feel free to share them. First one
[29:03] that I prepared it's in Quebec commonly people greet each other with a kiss on both cheeks just like in France within families. Yes. Foreigners. No.
[29:13] Like foreigners like people you don't know or you know a little. No.
[29:16] Which in France you would do like you you still kiss when they present you someone in the streets.
[29:22] It's more Yeah. Like if you're with a group of people, you know one person,
[29:26] one's your friend, you're going to kiss that person. You would kiss the whole group. But in Quebec, if but like you're not afraid of leaving someone out like
[29:34] you can kiss your close friend and then handshake with the others.
[29:37] Okay, I see. I mean, I think you touched this one already a little bit, but the French spoken in Quebec is exactly the same as France uh in France. Oh, no difference.
[29:46] No. So, standard French, if you think of radio, media, press, it's the same. Standard French is the same everywhere.
[29:54] that street French on both sides is very different from standard French and very different from one another. They evolved
[30:02] in completely different directions. But it's changing because the new generation in Quebec has access to Tik Tockers from France. So now they're starting to bring
[30:11] French slang into Quebec and their parents are shocked. Where did you learn that?
[30:16] Interesting. That's curious. It's going the opposite of other languages. No problem. Yeah,
[30:20] that's cool. Next one that I have it's Canadians in Quebec. it put in as a regular regular everyday dish.
[30:27] Not every day, but it's part of the cultures. Winter day minus 30, you went for a walk, you're coming back or you're
[30:34] on your way home, you get a poutine. Or if you've had too much to drink, poutine is made for that. Makes sense. I mean, come on. Gravy.
[30:44] Um, in France, tipping in restaurants,
[30:46] it's optional, while in Canada, it's expected or mandatory. That's how you spot a French person in is the one that does not tip.
[30:53] And the restaurant owner behind him with a knife. Kebec has both English as French uh English and French as official
[31:02] languages, but most official signs are in French.
[31:06] That's false. Quebec official language is only French. New Brand is bilingual.
[31:11] So in New Brunswick, you cross the the border to the province of New Brandic and you'll see stop ari exit. You'll see the signs in both languages.
[31:21] I see. French people would eat cheese after every meal while in Quebec cheese is rarely eating outside of specific dishes.
[31:29] You can have cheese for um ao like the pre-dinner lunches. in Quebec, also in France, but it's true that the French
[31:38] will most French will end the meal with the cheese before dessert and in Quebec they don't.
[31:44] The French education system is exactly the same as the Quebec's one.
[31:47] Very different. In Quebec, secondary school goes from 10 to 10 years old to
[31:54] 16, I think. And then they have two years of something called SEP, which is the last two years of secondary school.
[32:01] And that's specific to Quebec. Even in the rest of Canada they don't have this system.
[32:05] Interesting. We have that in Spain. We have the bachelor. It's also the separation between who wants to go to job directly and versus the people who
[32:13] wants to prepare to university. So those two years from 16 to 18 are not mandatory. You can do them or not. Okay.
[32:20] Maybe that was the inspiration for uh Quebec got the inspiration from them.
[32:25] Interesting. Um, in Quebec, people often use English words mixed with French in casual conversations.
[32:33] Yes, they tell you they translate everything, but it's not true. They will translate some words that the French
[32:40] people in France, we use English words for certain things like parking and they will say, but beside that, I
[32:49] went to the car dealer to repair my car the other day and all the words are in English. Also a lot of like they go to a
[32:56] part in job for a party and a job and they don't seem to consider it not French.
[33:03] Okay.
[33:05] You never know when the anglicism is okay or not.
[33:07] And actually now this next one is kind of the other way. No, French spoken in Quebec has preserved some older French that in France are not longer used anymore.
[33:17] Yeah. Yeah. For example, in Quebec we use sulier for shoes. In France, we we understand, but it's an older word. We will we will just use sh these days.
[33:28] Interesting. So, it's difficult to understand. If you put two persons, one French and one in front of them, it will take them for them to understand each other.
[33:37] It will take time for the French person to adapt to Quebec cuz we're they're I think they're more exposed to standard
[33:44] French. So, they know common words. Not the slang. They might not know the slang, but most words they would know.
[33:51] But when you have a film from Quebec in France, they put subtitles for the French people. Not the other way around.
[34:00] Uh, last one, and I promise I didn't prepare this one. It just came out without knowing. In France, bulangeries
[34:07] are in almost every street corner, but in Quebec are much stranger, much rare to find.
[34:12] Partly true. It's true. In France, there is a bulerie at every corner. In Quebec,
[34:18] every village and every neighborhood will have bakeries because I lived in Vancouver and it was not the same. When I came to Vancouver, the density of
[34:27] bakeries and the quality of bakeries is much higher than in other cities in Canada. So, it's been halfway. Montreal's halfway.
[34:34] Cool. I mean, it makes sense geographically also. Thanks a lot for for the miniame. Uh I thought it didn't put you too much in in in trouble with
[34:42] anyone. Maybe before we close the episode, I would ask you if you can share a little bit more about the projects that you have in your hands right now with the coaching, what is
[34:49] going on, a little bit more on details um of how do you work with people, but also how people can get in contact with
[34:58] you if they are thinking about uh learning French.
[35:00] Yeah. So for people who already speak or understand at a intermediate high intermediate level, I can recommend my
[35:08] podcast. It's called my polyglot life on franc and you can learn more about learning languages efficiently with the
[35:16] neural language coaching approach but also knowing about your brain and method best practices for learning a language and also about the culture France and
[35:24] Quebec. I have conversation groups for advanced levels and I work one-on-one with people from all levels not true
[35:33] beginners but false beginners to advanced. I do the one-on-one coaching to help them figure out how to learn best or how to overcome stress and
[35:42] anxiety when speaking a language cuz that's part of it. Knowing about the brain is also knowing about emotions and how to work around your stressors to become more confident speaker.
[35:53] Perfect. Any website, any place where it's easier to reach to you? Yeah. So website is mypolygotlife.com
[36:01] and on social media you can find me as kathy.intro or kathy intro. Sometimes there's no dot
[36:08] depends on the platform but Instagram is the main one I use.
[36:13] Perfect. I mean as always if you don't find the links there will be in the description of the episode so you can directly go there and and check them out
[36:20] from from there. Katy, thank you. Thank you so much for for joining Almost Local today and sharing your experience. It has been very nice.
[36:27] Thank you so much for inviting me. It was a lot of fun sharing about Canada and France.
[36:33] Maybe before we really close, any you have any last uh advice that you would give anyone who's planning to move abroad and learning a new language uh on
[36:42] the just try it.
[36:44] Just try it. You never know where it's Yeah, go for it. Is you never know where it's going to take you. Like I started learning Japanese as a hobby, like a
[36:53] challenge, personal challenge. Like some do crosswords. So I did Japanese. I wanted to go deeper. So I applied for the assistant teacher position. I got
[37:02] it. I lived a year in Japan. Wonderful experience. Happy it was only for a year, not more. But that's me. But you never know where it's going to take you
[37:10] and who you're going to meet thanks to those languages. And also even if you travel, knowing a few words of the language breaks a barrier with the
[37:18] locals and it makes the experience richer.
[37:21] Perfect. Thanks again for joining. H for the listeners. As always, if you enjoyed the episode, don't forget to subscribe,
[37:27] leave some reviews, and give some love uh um for both this podcast social media, but also uh give some love to the podcast of Kathy and the websites and
[37:35] the social media of her. Until the next time, keep exploring, stay curious, and see you in the next episode.