Originally Posted by
axolotl
Quebecois French is markedly different from European French. The pronunciation is substantially different, many words have a different meaning in Quebec than they do in France, and there are a fair number of English words and some literal translations of English thrown in that you don't hear in French-speaking Europe (e.g. ice cream = "Crème glacée" in Quebec but is "glace" in France). I think the difference between Quebecois French and European French is much greater than the difference between American English and British English, for example.
Yes, on visits to Montreal I learned the "creme glacee" bit, also a pizza slice is a "pointe de pizza". I only speak a tiny bit of French but occasionally it helped. The Québécois seem pretty tolerant of folks with poor French skills. Even the English can be different, I was puzzled when an Anglophone taxi driver said "cut" but finally realized it was "caught".