The project that I am the most excited about right now is the Speaking Atlas of French Varieties in Canada.

French-speaking participants from all around Canada are invited to record their reading of a short story, tell us about the role of French in their lives, upload the audio files to our webpage, and fill out a demographic questionnaire. These audio files are used to create the sound map and people will be able to click on different cities, towns and villages of Canada to hear the local French accents.

If you are Canadian and a native speaker of French, you can participate here!

To use the Speaking Atlas, click here 

The fundamental reason for this project is that the French varieties spoken in minority and/or English-dominant contexts in Canada are not adequately documented compared to French varieties in majority contexts (as in Quebec, for instance), and French speakers and learners are rarely exposed to these varieties. This creates inequalities and a hierarchization of the different varieties of French, with certain varieties being perceived as more prestigious while others are socially stigmatized.

The primary goal of this project is to provide a learning tool (a website) that allows French teachers, French speakers, and French learners to hear, see, discuss, and hopefully appreciate language variation in Canada.

You can also listen to an interview with Nathalie Geddry at La Mouvée (Radio-Canada) about the Speaking Atlas here