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Parisians see the South of France as one. It is ‘Le Sud’.
While Toulousains, Niçois or Montpellierains come from three very distinct regions of France, they are viewed in Paris as ‘du sud’. As such, they all have l’accent du sud.
All Parisians love l’accent du sud. There is no exception to that rule.
L’accent du sud twists the French language with a softer, more ‘chantant’ touch. While Parisians mock the Alsatian, Swiss or Northern accents, they cannot get enough of l’accent du sud. Anyone speaking with ‘l’accent du sud’ will immediately score high points on the friendliness scale. As Parisians wisely put it: “les gens du sud sont hyper sympa”.
Hearing l’accent du sud takes the Parisian straight on holidays. The sun shines in his heart. He is thankful for that. So he might take it as far as to try to be friendly with the people from the South of France. Friendly back somehow! Thus suddenly acting very awkward. Most sudistes at this point get overwhelmed with discomfort and prefer to leave it there. It is hard for Parisians to befriend someone with l’accent du sud. Really.
Soon enough, l’accent to sud becomes a cultural barrier the Parisian can’t seem to be able to break down. While building up cultural barriers is usually every Parisian’s prime craft and favourite past time, this one cultural barrier affects him deeply. Realizing that a person with l’accent du sud will always come across as nicer and more fun than him makes the Parisian secretly frustrated.
So he shall retaliate.
By making fun of people with l’accent du sud. Parisians love to imitate l’accent du sud to portrait stupid people. If a Parisian gets pulled over by a police officer, when recounting the story to his friends, every word spoken by the policeman will be transcripted with l’accent du sud. Understand: the cop was a retard. Now take that person from the South.
This strategy of assimilating nice people to stupid people exquisitely satisfies the Parisian. And allows him to dominate his frustration. Ultimately, l’accent du sud is more than an hear-pleasing enchantment to the Parisian; it is an ego-boosting delight.
“Honey, how ’bout we go spend the weekend in the South…?!”
Useful tip: When Parisians put a ‘g’ at the end of a word when they speak (loing, cong), it means they are trying to imitate l’accent du sud.
Sound like a Parisian: « Oh, t’as l’accent du sud… c’est génial»
Tags: accent, french, marseille, province, south, speaking, toulouse
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Right on…
I’m so glad my accent is not strong at all…
It makes me cringe everytime they imitate and mock it… even more so when they underline that we have an accent and they don’t (if only they knew).
I love (not) how for Parisians the South is just one thing (usually the South East, I guess Parisians have never heard of Languedoc/Roussillon and of the South West)…
And it all makes sense that they associate nice with retard, as most Parisians see themselves as intelligent..
I just wanted to let you know that I subscribe to over 40 blogs, and this one is BY FAR my favorite blog on the entire internet. It makes my day when I see a post from you.
The similarities between the Northern/Southern United States and Paris/France Sud are almost identical. Is there a little more respect paid to Urban (Nice or Marseilles) folks than the Rural (Saint-Gilles or Cavaillon) residents. Northern residents of the USA give more respect to natives of Atlanta that speak with a FASTER southern accent than Poplar Bluff people.
Southern hospitality is highly respected here, but “Barney Fife” still epitomizes our low assessment of their law enforcement officers. Of course, We Do Not Speak with an Accent in the Midwest, but sure like to listen to the Southern Belles slowly speak to us about anything.
Is the French spoken with a Southern United States Accent (Louisiana) different from the one from Avignon? Do the talking heads (news-readers on TV) speak with a Parisian accent (No Accent AT ALL) in France? We won’t even mention the accents from Fargo and other northern cities – doncha know.
ahaha chaque matin je recois des blagues par e-mail, celle-ci que j’ai recu aujourd’hui me semble apropos :
Client: (avé l’accent du sud) : oui bonjour, je vous appele parce qu’il y a un emmerdeur qu’arrete pas de m’envoyer des message dans ma boite au lettre !
Tech : Tres bien monsieur, qu’avez-vous dans la boite de reception ?
C : j’ai 62 messages de cet emmerdeur ! En plus je suis sur que c’est quelqu’un de chez vous !
H : Quelle est l’adresse de l’expediteur svp ?
C : Eh ben ! xxxxx@FAI.x ! j’vous l’dis c’est un crétin de chez vous !
H :Comment faites vous pour envoyer des message Monsieur ?
C :Comme tout le monde : je compose un nouveaux message, je mets mon adresse puisque c’est moi qui envoie le message, n’est ce pas ? et puis j’envoye pardis !
H : Permettez moi de vous dire qu’en procédant ainsi, vous vous envoyez des message à vous même monsieur !
C : Alors c’est moi qui m’emmerde ?
H : J’en ai bien peur monsieur !
Just to be a little precise, some of us make the difference between the southern accent from south-west (the one that “sings” and is delightful) and the soutern accent from east (which is a litlle more rough and gross in my view, but still “sings”).
I’m looking forward for you to speak about northern accent if you ever do because this one is so rough no parisian ever tries to make it (or they fail) and that’s why they have to use the soutern accent to imitate dumb people. Because northern hillbillies are far more dumasses in their view than people from the south. (I know, i come from Northern France, love my roots and don”t speak wih a strong northern accent so everytime someone discovers i speak normally they go “mais t’as pas d’accent !” …)
And just to answer Craig, i don’t think there is much a difference between urban and rural folks and if there ever was one, it would be in favour of rural (more holiday-like). Maybe there is more of a difference between those who come from the seashores and those who don’t…
I immediately thought of the Southern US and how we Northerners (especially NYers) view the intelligence level of people who say “ya’ll”. Then again, I think we feel the same way about people from NJ. It’s a very similar dynamic here as there. But get us in the sun, and we are all one big happy “ya’ll” speaking family!
Yet something else funny and interesting about Parisians that I did not know before.
First of all, great blog. I don’t know a lot about France, and this is a fun way to get to know about how French people think.
Recently I saw this really horrible movie ‘Bienvenue chez les ch’tis’ (really, worse than anything that Hollywood churns out) where southerners are shown as rather genteel compared to people in the far north of France. So is it: Parisians > Southerners > Northerners?
Well I’m from New Yawk and the NY accent, generally speaking has to be the worst on the planet. I don’t have much of it — my parents saw to that and I’m still in therapy over that
but compared to our neighbors directly south, ours is pretty bad! Yet New Yawkers are often quick to make fun, too… I’d love to actually hear a “southern french accent.”
When in Paris, true parisians had trouble guessing where I was from by my accent when speaking french and couldn’t easily guess. Is that good or bad?
I went to school in Cap d’Ail, so my French accent was originally more du Sud than de Paris, even though most of my French teachers before that were Parisan. Now, I work with so many Québecois that I have picked up some of their accent and lots of their vocabulary! But my ears still perk up when I hear that familiar accent du sud, and I still find it the easiest to understand.
Brilliant as always. However, it seems a lot of the people living in Montpellier these days are all Parisians originally, (or from overseas like me) so perhaps l’accent Montpellierian is on its way to becoming more nordiste…
great as always…
I just love the opposite story too : south people laughing about parisian accent, like “j’veux direeeeeuuuuh”, and trying NOT to sing when talking…
David… You’re fierce!
No, seriously, I can’t imagine whatever is left of French there to share that much with today’s South of France accent(s). As per TV French, it’s neutral French!
Elizabeth… Well thank you so very much. I feel honored!!
Craig… I’ve never perceived such similarities in the US. The South in Paris is really perceived as a different galaxy. Most people wish they could relate, but they can’t. Cities or not, Parisians feel like, since it’s sunny, no one really works there. As per South of France vs. Louisiana accent, well, i’d say yes provided some speak french and others English
Anait…
Marie… True true (btw, you probably make a difference btw South East and South West because you’re not actually from Paris!).
Amanda… Same syndrome here too. Especaily on rugby fields!
Cheryl… Cheers!
Danny… Thank you very much. Don’t go think that this blog is about the French. It’s really about Parisians. Thankfully enough, France is not full of Parisians! As per the classification, you have it pretty much figured out… and rejoice: Will Smith bought the rights of that movie for the US. So you’ll soon see the same story adapted to the US in every movie theater in America!
Minette… Well, I guess that’s a good thing – you probably don’t have too much of that… what’s the word… lovely… American accent!
Pinklea… School in Cap d’Ail… that sounds like Philosophy Classes for Springbreak: no one believes you Pinklea!
Richard… Thank you very much. Well, story of the world we live in sadly… everywhere, people are losing their accents! (except in da hood)
Stéphan… Merci. “Parler pointu” as they say!! Such a pretty way to call it!
Et encore mon p’tit commentaire.. ! Post apres le poste, comme vous le savez je suis votre blog mais c’est de plus en plus vite ici et cela signifie qu’il y a le developpement – congratulations Olivier !
quant a moi, je n’ai pas eu l’occasion d’entendre l’accent du Sud (je voudrais bien comme vous vous pouvez douter).
Entendre un accent et ensuite le produire, c’est naturel et cela passe vraiment vite, sans doute..
Alors, il faut que je reflechisse bien avant que je parte un jour pour etudier en France (quand j’aurai cette possibilite, ce sera le choix difficicile pour moi quant a la region; il y a differents accents dans differents endroits, ca c’est sur!)
I lived in Brussels when I was a teenager, and was roundly chastised, one time, by an ‘elderly’ Parisian (she was maybe twenty-five!) for speaking good French, but with a horrible Belgian accent. Also in Brussels, my friends and I used to speak French with a British accent out in public if we were being idiots, so as not to give the US any more of a bad name than it already had.
My mother spoke her English with a lovely Southern accent..which is totally different from a tacky redneck Southern accent. God knows what her French sounded like…she wasn’t shy about speaking it!
I love the subject of accents.
And, I LOVE your blog! It pokes such good hearted fun, while your love for your city shines through as well.
JB… Merci – la qualité du vin local importe aussi dans les choix d’immigration;-)
Ruth… Thank you for sharing. And thank you for your kind comments. I don’t think Americans can be mistaken for English and vice versa. Maybe I’m too familiar with them…
ah oui, il faut que je reflechisse vraiment parce que je voudrais bien partir..
et ou se trouvent les meilleurs vignes ? je dirais qu’au Sud de la France mais vous etes expert.
salutations
Darn it! We really thought we had them fooled!
JB… Le sud combien bons vins et soleil. Pas idiot!
Ruth… I guess we’ll never know!
Okay, I’ll take some comfort in that as I watch my 6 year learning to read down here near Béziers. She was practicing the ‘ment’ sound the other day and her words sounded like ‘doucemang’, ‘brusquemang’, ‘lentemang’, etc. And both my girls have called me ‘mamang’ ever since they’ve started to talk. It certainly isn’t the accent I’ve been taught, and even the teacher corrected me the other day when I said ‘demain’ she said ‘demaing’. Glad to hear they’ll make friends in Paris later in life should they chose to live there!lol
Rachelle… That’s really funny! You know that some Biterrois even become directors at Ô Chateau!! Ca mène à tout!!
None Parisian can imitate l’accent du Sud. But, they love it and that was cool for me when I first came to Paris.In NYC, they love the French accent. I’m lucky!
Oh, this brings back many memories… I was born in Antibes but my parents were not from the South. As a result, my accent sounded fairly neutral and I heard more than my fair share of “Ah bon, mais t’as pas l’accent pourtant ?” when I relocated to Paris.
I now live in Vancouver, BC (where we do have very good local wines!) and I am always surprised at how homogenous Western Canadian accents are… I don’t hear much of a difference between, say, Edmonton and Vancouver.
MesVitrines… Gosh, you win every time!!
Emmanuelle… I can’t even distinguish Canadians from Americans when they speak! That’s how good I am!! Thank God Canadians always wear stuff with a Canadian flag on it! Simplifies my life!
I’m American, but lived in Toulouse for a year a while back. Once I was visiting Paris and shopping in the Marché aux Puces. When I asked a question about an item to one of the vendors, his face lit up and he said, “Ah! Vous venez du sud, mademoiselle!” Although I was taught to speak French with a “Parisian” accent, living in the South must have rubbed off on me. I was just happy to be mistaken for a native French speaker though.
[...] moi les gens du sud ils ont cet accent chantant, j’arrive à reconnaître celui du sud-ouest et celui du sud-est mais pas beaucoup [...]
I subscribe to over 40 blogs, and this one is BY FAR my favorite blog on the entire internet. It makes my day when I see a post from you.
Il y a l’accent du Sud, reconnu par les Parisiens, mais dans tout le Sud il y a plusieurs sortes d’accents, histoire de compliquer les choses.
Les Toulousains n’ont pas le même accent que les Marseillais, même si tous deux sont de très jolis accents.
Merci
Très bon article encore une fois 