Life as a French Canadian Voice Talent in Quebec with Richard Fortin

Stephanie Ciccarelli:

Hi there, and welcome to Vox Talk, your weekly review from the world of voice over. I'm your host Stephanie Ciccarelli from Voices. How much do you know about the Quebecois voice over market and the French Canadian dialect? Joining me today is Richard Fortin, a broadcast radio professional and voice talent working near Montreal, who will share what it's like to work in voice over in the Canadian province of Quebec, and also how the French that is spoken in Quebec differs from that of the Parisian French that most of you are hearing likely when you think of French. So, Bonjour, Richard! Thank you for joining me today, and welcome to the show.

Richard Fortin:

Bonjour, Stephanie! Thank you.

Stephanie Ciccarelli:

Yes, all of my grade school French is coming back to me. Maybe not a whole lot, but definitely this is an English interview. I'm just so glad that you're able to join us today and also to share about the French market in Canada. So, first question to you. What makes Quebecois French different from the continental European French that is spoken in France?

Richard Fortin:

Oh, it's so different because in Quebec, we are alone in Quebec, in Canada to speak French, and the French Quebecois is really different from the European France French speaking. The Quebecois understand really well the French European France and the invert part, the French people maybe don't understand a couple of words of Quebecois because there are some particular language from the Quebecois. So it's hard maybe for the European people to understand some Quebecois, but a lot of words are the same in French. Quebecois are not say the same, so they add a lot of word that the French people don't understand. But in Quebecois, it's more easy for us to understand European French. So I don't know if you understand what I'd say, but it's a reality for us here in Quebec, so.

Stephanie Ciccarelli:

Right. No, I totally get it, because when you have the language, the root language, if you will, there are always like derivatives or dialects that come from it. And Quebecois is definitely one of those for the French language. And there are other dialects of French. I am more than certain, because French has spoken in, like I don't know the percentage exactly, or how many people speak, but in so many different countries around the world, you can't help but think, well, they've all got their own little slant or spin on that, be it some kind of a Creole or what have you, right? So, yeah, I can totally understand that. And in school, I know in Canada we are taught French grades one through nine, and you can take that beyond grade nine, and you can go grade ten 11, 12, but I don't think it's mandatory after that. So most of Canada, for those listening, most of us do understand basic French. So do French Canadian talent speak both dialects? Or are you finding that you're really only speaking the Quebecois French?

Richard Fortin:

I don't know if all the Canadian can speak both dialects, but sure they understand, because here in Quebec, we have all the English TV station, or we have some English radio station. So I'm pretty sure, and the English is one of the most language talk in the world. So to have some good issue in a job, so to go to a vacation and talk with a lot of people in the US and Mexico and all the part of the world, we need to speak English. So a lot of Quebecois learn English because in school, we learn English all year of the school grade. But I don't know if all the Quebecois understand or talk English, but a lot of people know and listen English because we have TV like everybody in the world. So it's hard to say if every person can speak both dialect. But for me, as a voice actor, I need to understand English. I'm not the best to talk in English because I use French every time in my life. But I think it's important to know the both language. So I hope everybody can speak maybe French and English. It's a good thing for us to have two language in our pockets. So it's an easy way to be understand around the world.

Stephanie Ciccarelli:

Right. Yeah. And that's true. I think that's true. In Canada. It's obviously English and French. In the United States, it's largely English and Spanish, and in other countries, they may have their duality, if you will, if there's a certain amount of people who speak. But primarily, yeah here it's really interesting how that works. And I know that some English speaking talent who are not Francophone, and that's the word we use for those who speak French like natively or want to be taught that way in the school system. The Francophone school is different from a French immersion school, for instance, but you do learn, and so the English voice talent trying to speak Quebecois French must be hilarious at times, because I think we might be taught the Parisian way, I'm not sure, but it may not translate as well. I know that Quebecois would absolutely understand the Parisian French, as you said, but the Parisians would not necessarily understand every word for word in the Quebecois French. So that said, what is it about the dialects that differ? What would be different for them? What would they not understand? What you're saying in Quebecois.

Richard Fortin:

The slang word. We use a lot of slang word here in Quebec and it's really funny because we have a lot of singer here in Quebec and they have some international career. So they go to Europe and when we saw some interview with their radios or TV host, they change a little bit the language to be understood by the Parisian or the European people. So it's funny to hear some words in French are more slang, and when we go to Europe and France, it's more picky to say the word. So it's funny to see that.

Stephanie Ciccarelli:

I'm sure it was kind of like, wait a minute, you speak like this at home and then you go overseas and you sound a little different. They're trying to adapt to their audience I would think that happens all the time with people shifting their accents, like neutrality of accent.

Richard Fortin:

It's the same. Like the English US. People, the Canadian US. And the UK. US. The UK language, it's the same word. But when the people in UK speak in English, they don't say the word exactly the same as the US person.

Stephanie Ciccarelli:

Right?

Richard Fortin:

Maybe the same difference.

Stephanie Ciccarelli:

Like tomato. Tomato.

Richard Fortin:

Exactly.

Stephanie Ciccarelli:

Yeah, precisely. That's really interesting. So just to kind of go back to the Quebec voiceover industry just a little bit, just because I think it's interesting, how is it different from the rest of Canada? Are you finding there's a lot of English jobs in Quebec? What do you see largely in the market?

Richard Fortin:

In the market, I see a lot of English stuff because we are some TV network in English, like CTV or the different TV networks. So they have a lot of job in English for the Quebec English people. I don't know if they use some Canadian to maybe Vancouver or Toronto. So I don't know if they use some Quebec people, but I'm pretty sure they have a lot of English work here. For me, I work practically exclusively in French. So I don't search for English because when I speak in English, I have a little accent. So the company don't want an accent. They want original language, the original people accent. So in Quebec, the vo French industry are amazing. They had a lot of stuff. We do our home dubbing for movies like Netflix or Amazon Prime or the movie industry too. They have our home dubbing for that. And we have a little star system here, not maybe for the voice over, because in Quebec they use a lot of superstar actors in TV and the TV show to do some voice over to glue to a product. So they have a notoriety to promote the product. So for only a voice actor like me, because I'm not on TV, I'm not a superstar on TV, on a movie, I'm just a voice actor, they have a really cool place for people like me because I do a lot of cool stuff for Disney, a lot of cool stuff for Universal Pictures, like the movie trailer promo or stuff like that. But as a radio producer, radio voice here, I do a lot of commercial stuff. So for my radio station, for my group of radio station here in Quebec, but I think they have a lot of work here from the French people.

Stephanie Ciccarelli:

Yeah, it sounds like it's a very robust, strong market for what you need to do, especially because Quebecois French, it's going to reach quite an audience and you need to have that dubbed and to have professionals doing that. It's so meaningful when you hear something in your heart language or in the language that you grew up speaking, right. And that dialect. So that is really great. So I know that there's so many cool things you just said. I could probably just pull back the layers of some of it, but obviously there's the radio background that you have with the stations that you're with. And then you've got voice over work for large corporations in French in the French Canadian dialect, when people do casting calls, just curious, are they saying, we want Quebecois or are they saying, we're looking for French Canadian? What do you see on those postings?

Richard Fortin:

In Quebec, the people that don't work Québécois accent, they just talk about French. But if we have some jobs, maybe in Canada, a lot of people want if it's for the Quebec market, they want a Quebecois accent, but maybe they want some they call French International. So it's not the French European speaking, it's not the French Québécois speaking, it's the International, so it's a mix between two of that language, to have a standard of the French to be understood all around the world. So they do a French international in a movie, a lot in a movie. But in the publicity industry, I don't think they want some international or it's one or the other one, so it's weird a little bit but a lot of people can do both, a lot of people can do French International. The dubber for the movie are amazing to do that, to play in French Québécois and dubbing, some stuff for the big corporation, like you said, in French International. So it's funny to hear the difference.

Stephanie Ciccarelli:

Yeah. So I'm just thinking, would like a dream job for someone speaking in the French International dialect, like for a world stage thing, would it be like being the official announcer for the Olympics? But that would be like a dream job or for FIFA or some kind of big sporting event or just trying to think like something that brings the whole world together, because you're going to find there's so many different languages that are all brought together at the same time. We just had World Cup not too long ago. Don't want to date ourselves too much, but we just did. But that's sort of, I think, what language brings us all together and it's very interesting to speak to you about what's going on in Quebec. I think that it's great. There are also, for those listening, there are Anglophones, people who speak English as their first language, living in Quebec, and they also can do voice over work there. Yeah, some are bilingual, some are well, I don't know if they're fully bilingual, but they're able to just do their English work. Just like how you're simply doing your French work, you know, you're focusing on that. So do the talent out in Québéc. Maybe this is a good question. What kind of community do you have? Do people get together and have dinners or go out to see each other or have any conferences? What happens for learning and community in Quebec?

Richard Fortin:

It's a really small market because we are alone in Canada. It's not something the ville promotes because they have not a lot of people to do some great or amazing voice over for like an official TV voice. I do that kind of stuff, but it's a small market. We know practically everybody, but we don't have some group chat to do a get together. We work a little bit alone in our side so we know everybody. I know a few official voice for a lot of stuff for TV trailer or stuff like that. So it's a really small industry here in Quebec, different from the rest of the Canada and the US. They have maybe the hundred and thousand people do voice over, but in Québéc they have more VO, like with the pandemic. A lot of people construct some homemade booth to do voice over and I'm pretty sure it's the same thing all around the world.

Stephanie Ciccarelli:

Oh, wow. Well, it's really great to know that everyone seems to know each other in Québéc because it is a smaller market. I like that. And that's really nice that you have that sense of who your peers are and what you're working on and just seem like, ‘oh well, I auditioned for this job and so did all these guys, but he got it and I know his voice and go congratulate them,’ I'm sure that happens all the time. So as we're talking about his career and knowing people in development, are there any types of voice acting roles or projects that you haven't had the chance to work on yet, but you would like to in the future?

Richard Fortin:

I do a lot of stuff about video game I do with once and it's not a character voice. I do an announcer voice on that game. So maybe to have some role to play, it's kind of fun stuff. I love doing some characters like Dracula or Santa or stuff like that because with the radio imaging we do, we do that kind of voice every time they have holidays. So it's funny to see I'm Santa and I'm Dracula, that kind of stuff. So in French it's really funny to do that and I don't hear a lot of that kind of voice here in Quebec. So maybe more character for video games. It's a long answer, but video games, I think it's something funny.

Stephanie Ciccarelli:

Yeah, I think that's great. Like character work is very different in some ways from what you would be normally doing on air, although I know there's some fun stuff here and there, right, that you can do some characters. But all of that said too, that's a lot of work. Your voice must just be like on all the time and I hope it isn't on all the time, but can you tell me, Richard, so how do you keep your voice in good shape and maintain good vocal health?

Richard Fortin:

A lot of water, I think, is the same answer for everybody in the VO industry, a lot of water. But for me, I'm really lucky because every day of my life, seven days a week, not 24 hours a day, but practically, I do some voice stuff for the radio station, for Voices, for movies. I do really a lot of voice. So my voice is trained to be okay when I need it, so and I need a good car foul in my in my throat with my coat. I need to have something to protect that from the winter Quebecois.

Stephanie Ciccarelli:

Oh, yes. Well, it's so cold in Canada. I mean, people think we might live in Igloos. I know there still might be that rumor circulating. The Canadians have to live in Igloos, and there's polar bears everywhere. And no, it's not that bad, but there's a tremendous amount of snow and that wind can just bite. So, yeah, you got to protect yourself. And that's one of the things that extremes in weather is certainly something that we all have to look out for in the warmer climates in the US. You're going to be thinking about hydration more so than most people, but where we are, Richard, and we have similar weather, although you might have it colder, it is a lot about just kind of keeping warm. So as we record, we are actually in the dead of winter, the Canadian winter. So, yeah, I hope you're keeping yourself warm there. And for anybody who is hoping to get in touch with you, I know you, we connect on LinkedIn. We have great conversations there. Is that a place where someone who's listening, who's like ‘I'm a French Canadian voice artist. I feel like I have no community because I'm new, I'm not in radio. I don't know anybody.’ Could they reach out to you just to say hi or maybe to connect?

Richard Fortin:

Yeah, sure. About LinkedIn on Facebook, Instagram. I'm there. I'm on all social media. So yes, everybody can connect and just talk about VO, about some maybe trick to record, to edit a recording session and do that kind of stuff. Yes, it's a pleasure to talk with other people, they do the same work we do. So, yes, it's a cool thing.

Stephanie Ciccarelli:

Right on. And you don't have to be French to reach out to Richard. I'm sorry if I gave that impression anybody couldn't in the industry. If you want to talk to Richard, maybe you want to work with him on something because he's got that Québécois market kind of nailed there, the corner there. Then reach out to him, too. It's a great big VO community that we're in. So thanks again for joining us today, Richard. It was so great to speak with you.

Richard Fortin:

Thank you so much. And thanks to Voices.com to be here in our lives because it's really a game changer for the voice over community. They have a lot of really cool jobs on Voices.com, and they add a lot of French job, too. So a lot of people think about only the English, but they have a lot of French jobs. So go to subscribe it right now.

Stephanie Ciccarelli:

Wow. Well, thank you very much. That was unsolicited. Thank you. Well, my goodness, we'll have to have you on some other time to learn more about what you're up to, Richard. But for now, merci beaucoup, au revoir and we'll see you later.

And that's the way we saw the world through the lens of voice over this week. Thank you to our special guest, Richard Fortin, for joining us on the show. I hope you learned a lot in having new appreciation for what it's like to work in the French Canadian market, specifically in Québéc. So for Voices, I'm Stephanie Ciccarelli. Vox Talk is produced by Geoff Bremner. We're so happy you chose to spend time with us today. Au revoir, tout le monde! We'll see you next week.