Do people there speak English?

[Meadbh]

Similar observation: I'm in a French discussion group led by a woman from Montreal and she said that the French in Continental Europe find French Canadians hard to understand because the Canadian French dialect is so close to how the language sounded at the time Canada was being settled by Europeans.

This is true. I grew up in Europe and learnt French in school from several great teachers, including a Parisienne. Many years later, when living in Manitoba, where there is a significant Francophone community, I signed up with a local travel company to do “le cyclotourisme” in southwest France. It was a wonderful experience, but I digress. The French people we met had difficulty understanding les FrancoManitobains, but no difficulty at all understanding me.

 

[kcowan]

In a continuum, microbes and Blue Whales are considered 'life forms'.

and those whales take a long time to get on and off the bus!

 

[bberris]

Many "North Americans" speak only Spanish or French. Just saying.

I think there are more English speakers in Paris than New York.