I never get tired of small cultural differences—I even have a blog tag dedicated to them!
My mother and my brother came to visit us in July and I eagerly wrote down what surprised them, and what probably surprised me as well a few years ago.
Start with 5 Things My Mom Noticed in Canada!
Cars and Licence Plates
The first thing my mom noticed was vanity plates. But even regular licence plates caught her eye. In North America, they are issued by provinces/states and typically include original design or tagline (such as “Yours to Discover” in Ontario). In France, licence plates are white or yellow and all have a common format and size.
She was also amazed by the size of the cars, especially pickup trucks and SUVs.
Finally, she noticed there was little incentive to take the bus since it’s expensive and service isn’t great.
Nice and friendly Canadians
My mom found Canadians really nice and helpful. “They aren’t pushy or rude like in France,” she said. For instance, we attended the Canada Day celebrations together and my mom isn’t a huge fan of large crowds, so she wasn’t sure whether she’d like it. Turned out she did because despite the impressive gathering, people were well-behaved and there was room to breathe.
The way people patiently queue everywhere puzzled her.
Finally, she noticed our society was very multicultural and people from all walks of life seemed to blend in.
Life in French and English
Because I speak English daily, I forgot how hard it is when you don’t master the language. My mom and my brother both speak basic English and people in Ottawa helped them in French if needed.
But I still laugh at the time my mom mentioned that she had been shopping for clothes and that she saw a lot of “that clearance brand.” “Is it a famous brand?” she asked. It took me a second or two to get it. “Mom, it’s not a brand, it means it’s on sale,” said, laughing.
Similarly, she had trouble understanding street names the way locals pronounce them in English. For instance, “Lyon” isn’t pronounced like the French city of the same name, which is confusing. The same goes with “Orléans,” “Catherine Street” etc.
Ottawa, Toronto, Niagara Falls and Montreal
She didn’t think Ottawa was that spread out but she liked the city. I can see why—it’s picturesque and gorgeous in the summer. We have so many parks right in the downtown core! Her favourite places were the locks and riverside trails.
When we visited Montreal for a day, she noticed the difference between Ontario and Quebec regarding the people, the language and the culture. She found Toronto’s skyline very impressive, especially from the CN Tower.
Cost of living
At first, she didn’t find the cost of living in Canada so low, even though I’m pretty convinced that living in Canada is cheaper than living in France. But that’s mostly because, for the first few days, she shopped like a French person, looking for cheese, imported brands, etc. Once I showed her some local products, she did find the average grocery trip much cheaper than in France, especially for fresh products.
She was also surprised to learn that there are sales all the time—in France, the government sets certain times of the year when shops can put their merchandise on sale (usually summer and winter).
What little cultural differences did you notice when you first went abroad?
Hi Zhu,
It is true that Canadians are nice people; but when I went to liv in France I found them extremely polite (compared to the Portuguese) – my first sentence was “damn, Portugal is such a jungle!” LOL…*nodding*…but today my fellow-citizens are much better, I must admit.
In Portugal, sales are in August (Summer sales) and February (Winter sales); but now you can find some sort of sales (which they call “promoções” since the law does not allow sales more than twice) all year round.
Well, the first time I went abroad I was too little to noticed any difference (I was 1 month old lol); but the second time (I was 4 years old) when I went to Canada, Toronto, I remember finding people much nicer than in Portugal and the fact that clients had options (i.e. in Portugal, we only had, at that time, one brand of cereals, one brand of chiclets, we didn’t have Coca Cola everywhere [and my mum was used to it, because in Mozambique it was drank like water] etc) and I got to learn a new language, of course, because in Portugal English was not that popular yet.
I hope your mum and brother had a really nice time.
Cheers
They did enjoy the trip, thank you.
I don’t think French (or Portuguese, or Chinese) are more rude, it’s mostly a cultural thing. For instance, Chinese have a different conception of personal space, and French don’t think the customer is always right. But hey, these differences make life more fun!
As I mentioned in my interview, there were no big cultural differences coming from Mexico since we are very economically and culturally tied to the US and Canada. It used to be cheaper to visit the US (still is) and Canada (before the Visa requirement and the Canadian Dollar surge) than the rest of Latin America. One big difference that I enjoy is that at least in the Maritimes drivers stop when they see that you are about to cross the street, actually I think some pedestrians abuse that. In Mexico you would never see a car stop to allow you to cross the street, you better run for your life 🙂
That’s some good observation about the vanity plates 🙂
It runs in the family, we like to dissect cultural differences!
I thought Ottawa is bilingual?
A lot of people can speak French and government signs, packaging etc. are in both languages. But it’s still an English city, more English channels on TV and the private sector is mostly anglophone.
I smiled while reading you Mother’s observations about Canada. It’s always interesting to hear or read about about visitors’ or immigrants’ perspectives. I am a Canadian living abroad and, naturally, I am constantly confronted with cultural comparisons between Canada and the country I am living in. Going abroad in very enriching in that way…you have the opportunity to learn about a new country but you also have the chance to learn a great deal about your own!
Hi and thank you for stopping by! I follow a number of foreigner bloggers living in France because I enjoy the way they see my birth country, they make me notice things I’ve always taken for granted. Cultural differences is a fun topic!
I love to see other’s opinions on Canadians. 🙂 I have never been outside of Canada very much (only a few times to the U.S.) so I guess I am a little sheltered, and so I do not know the little differences and similarities between Canada and the other parts of the world. Thank you for posting these articles, I find them very interesting!
Also, I kind of find it a bit bothersome when people think we all say “eh” (I admit, I know people who do,and occasionally, I do too!) and other common misconceptions about Canada, some of them are kind of mean. I am pleased to read that you find most Canadians polite and nice 🙂
P.S. I especially dislike it when people from the U.S make jokes about us, some are friendly, some are just plain mean! 😛
I am happy that (you seem) to really like Canada 🙂
Bye! 🙂
BTW: I did not mean that YOU were typing misconceptions about Canadians! Everything you said was spot-on and none were offensive! 🙂
Hi Danielle, and thank you for your feedback!
I love living in Canada, and I found home here–a welcoming home too. For that, I’m grateful! Not saying that Canada is perfect of course, that’s my French side: I like to rant and complain once in a while. But overall, it’s a really nice country to live in.
About the “eh” thing… I don’t hear it that much, to me it’s like any other slang word, like Valley girls saying “like” all the time. It’s cute though!