This is a collection of interesting content that I’ve used for input practice over the course of of learning French with a focus on the québécois dialect. In general, it can be pretty hard to find ways to engage with Québec French as a beginner, which is only made worse by the stereotypes that ‘standard’ French speakers can have towards Québec. Lots of French people will treat you as a bit crazy for wanting to learn a non-standard dialect, which can leave a bit of a bad taste in your mouth when trying to learn using “normal” beginner content. I’ve definitely had French-from-France language teachers, teaching in Québec, who had disdain for the accent. People who literally went through immigration bureaucracy to be here! Drives me nuts.
Because of that, I thought it was pretty important to collate some of the resources I’ve found. I’ve tried to focus on beginner stuff especially, because once you reach a certain point of comprehension, it becomes much easier to jump between dialects - so the beginner level is both where it’s hardest to live without Québec-specific resources, and where the resources are the most lacking.
Enweye!
Learner-Specific podcasts
Podcasts designed specifically for people learning French.
Spoken slowly and clearly, using simple but “normal” language. Options are limited, so I’ve included some non-québécois options here too.
InnerFrench
https://innerfrench.com/podcast/
Episodes at the beginning are slightly easier, later ones are slightly harder - focus on France and French culture as well as general current events and culture.
Learn Quebec French
https://www.frenchwithfrederic.com/podcast
Smaller backlog of episodes, focus on Québécois and Montréalais culture.
Easy French Podcast
More challenging than other learner-specific podcasts imo. Focus on France and French culture.
Aujourd’hui l’histoire
https://ici.radio-canada.ca/ohdio/premiere/emissions/3855/aujourd-hui-l-histoire
Very large backlog, releases daily. I’m including it in the list of beginner resources because it includes time-synced transcriptions for all episodes going back a few years.
General podcasts
For and by native speakers. These use fast, mostly casual, modern speech.
Using podcasts that also release a video stream can help make them more approachable from a comprehension standpoint.
Radio Canada
Radio Canada tends to be on the more approachable end of the scale when it comes to podcasts intended for native French speakers - The hosts typically enunciate clearly, they all tend towards a ‘Standard Québécois’ accent with a lot of radio-voice.
OHdio
https://ici.radio-canada.ca/ohdio
Radio Canada’s frankly mediocre audio player app. Unfortunately they don’t release all episodes to their RSS feeds so OHdio is the only way to find a lot of their stuff.
Here’s a neat tool that lets you take any OHdio podcast and import it into a normal podcast player as a normal RSS feed. Personally, I still use OHdio for discovery, then once I have a show I know that I like, I move it into my everyday podcast player.
À la une
https://ici.radio-canada.ca/ohdio/balados/302/nouvelles-info-matin-canada-monde-politique
Releases daily - general Canadian and world news, weather, sports.
Ça s’explique
https://ici.radio-canada.ca/ohdio/balados/6108/ca-sexplique-balado-info-alexis-de-lancer
Releases daily - pop culture, science, history, current events.
Les années lumière
https://ici.radio-canada.ca/ohdio/premiere/emissions/52/les-annees-lumiere
Releases weekly - exclusively science topics - episodes are long (2+ hours), but each one is broken into smaller chunks of 15-20 minutes.
Derives
Long-form reporting podcast where each season does a deep dive on a dark news story. Not exactly true crime, but definitely similar. Bingeable!
Fidèles sous emprises
https://ici.radio-canada.ca/ohdio/balados/11868/fideles-sous-emprise
Another long-form reporting podcast. Similar to Derives, this one profiles a different cult each season.
Ma version des faites
https://ici.radio-canada.ca/ohdio/balados/7110/isabelle-richer-histoire-judiciaire-revisite
I promise I’m not a true crime junky, it’s just what Rad Can is best at when it comes to podcasts! This one is hosted by a retired (?) court reporter who goes back through the cases she covered in her career.
Qu’est ce qui se passe?
https://ici.radio-canada.ca/info/rad/serie/quest-ce-qui-se-passe
A video podcast from Rad, which is Radio Canada’s ‘experimental’ arm and attempt to be hip with the youth - significantly more challenging compared to other Radio Canada shows. The hosts speak very casually for the radio.
Distorsion
https://www.qub.ca/radio/balado/distorsion
True crime/creepy internet horror stuff - the hosts speak very clearly and can sound quite formal. Pretty sure at least some of this is because they’re trying to attract a European audience as well as a Quebec one and they want to make sure they’re understood.
Avec son Sam
https://www.youtube.com/@SamBretonOfficiel
Interview show hosted by a comedian. I’m pretty sure he’s a decent person? Though I haven’t watched much of his stand-up. The host has a pretty strong regional/rural accent. No longer releasing new episodes.
Sans filtre
https://www.youtube.com/@SansFiltrePodcast
Two friends interviewing celebrities, politicians, etc. chill, good vibes, though it can sometimes veer into bro culture.
Datestable
https://www.youtube.com/@Datestable-bx2vw
The overall premise is comedians sharing their worst dating experiences - very fun, very challenging.
Le podcast des personnages
https://www.youtube.com/@jaylaliberte/
A kind of long-form improv video podcast where a comedian interviews other comedians who each take on the role of a character that they’ve built for themselves.
Learner-Specific Youtube
The list is small, but yes, there are some people out there producing content for (and in) Québec French, geared towards learners.
Ma prof de français
https://www.youtube.com/@maprofdefrancais
If you’re focused on learning Québec French, you probably already know about Ma prof de français, but if not, you’re in for a treat.
Wandering French
https://www.youtube.com/@wanderingfrench
Lots of great beginner content where the host tells short stories, goes on walks with narration, and describes her travels. She goes the extra mile to add phenomenal subtitles.
General Youtube
Like the general podcasts, these aren’t for learners, they’re literally just a bunch of youtube channels that I like.
Some overlap with the podcasts, since lots of those are available as videos on YT as well.
L’histoire nous le dira
https://www.youtube.com/@lhistoirenousledira
General history, some fun videos about the history of québécois expressions too.
Gurky
https://www.youtube.com/@Gurky
Watch a man eat terrible food for the sake of internet fame.
Dantazz
https://www.youtube.com/@dantazzz
Gurky’s editor. Similar kinds of ‘youtube trash’ content, but still fun.
Rad
https://www.youtube.com/@Radpointca
Rad’s youtube channel. Highly recommend the recent videos about Olivier trying to learn how badminton works.
Capitaine Montréal
https://www.youtube.com/@CapitaineMontreal
The host walks around Montreal and talks about local history.
Alex & MJ
https://www.youtube.com/@alexmj_onthego
Vanlifers. Seems they haven’t posted in a while. Their content is good but they love to use English music in the background which I find kinda distracting.
Urbania
https://www.youtube.com/@_urbania
Quebec’s version of a Vox-style news outlet. Explainer-style reporting on current events relevant to Quebec.
Émile Roy
https://www.youtube.com/@emileroy
I love this guy. His book review videos are especially great for finding book recommendations
Le Gong Show
https://m.youtube.com/@LeGongShow
Montreal-based comedy show where stand-up comics give a tight three in front of a panel of judges. This is as hard as it gets for comprehension imo, but they can be really funny. And their shorts have subtitles.
Adib Alkhalidey
https://m.youtube.com/@adibalkld
A wholesome stand-up comic and surprisingly comprehensible.
Je joue de la musique
https://m.youtube.com/@JeJoueDeLaMusique
Music lessons/tutorials with videos about piano, bass, drums, and music theory.
Books
Instead of giving book recommendations I’ll give some resources about how to find québécois literature.
Renaud Bray coup de coeur
https://www.renaud-bray.com/Romans_quebecois_et_canadiens.aspx
Renaud Bray is a big-box bookstore in Quebec. Their “coup de coeur” suggestions are pretty good, though normally I try to avoid actually buying books from places like this. Instead, go with…
Les libraires
A collective of independent, mostly-francophone bookstores based in Quebec. They also have good recommendations, and they ship across Canada.
BAnQ
If you live in Quebec or can find someone who does, I highly recommend getting a library card at the Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec. Their digital selection is pretty good, better than the municipal Montreal libraries (though you can also stack a BAnQ and a municipal account on most digital library apps like Kanopy etc).