Editing Joual (section)

== In popular culture ==
The two-act play ''[[Les Belles-sœurs]]'' by Canadian writer [[Michel Tremblay]] premiered in 1968 at the [[Théâtre du Rideau Vert]] in Montreal. Many consider it to have had a profound impact on Canadian culture, as it was one of the first times ''Joual'' was seen on a national stage. The play follows a working-class woman named Germaine in Montréal. After winning a million [[trading stamp]]s, she invites her friends over to help paste them into booklets to redeem them. But Germaine is unsuspecting of her jealous friends who are envious of her winnings.<ref name="Les Belles-soeurs">{{cite web|url=http://www.canadiantheatre.com/dict.pl?term=Les%20belles-soeurs|title=Les Belles-soeurs|website=Canadian Theatre Encyclopedia|access-date=21 February 2019}}</ref> The fact that the play was originally written in ''Joual'' is very important to the socio-linguistic aspect of the women. The characters all come from the working class and for the most part, speak in ''Joual'', which at the time was not seen on the main stage. The play was cited at the time as a "radical element among Quebec critics as the dawn of a new era of liberation, both political and aesthetic".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Usmiani |first=Renate |title=Michel Tremblay |date=1982 |publisher=Douglas & McIntyre |series=Studies in Canadian Literature, 15 |location=Vancouver}}</ref>

When ''Les Belles-sœurs'' premiered in Paris, France in 1973 as it was originally written, in ''Joual'', it was met with some initial criticism. One critic described it as difficult to understand as [[ancient Greek]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=McEwan |first=Barbara |date=1986 |title=Au-delà de l'exotisme: le théâtre québécois devant la critique parisienne, 1955–1985 |journal=Theatre History in Canada / Histoire du théâtre Canada |language=fr |volume=7 |issue=2 |pages=134–148}}</ref> Tremblay responded, "a culture should always start with speak to herself. The ancient Greeks spoke to each other".<ref name="Les Belles-soeurs"/> {{Verify quote|date=August 2021}} The popularity of the play has since caused it to be translated into multiple languages,{{Citation needed|date=March 2019}} raising controversies in the translation community over retaining the authenticity of ''Les Belles-sœurs'' even when not performed in the original dialect of ''Joual''.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Malone |first=Paul |date=2003-01-01 |title="Good Sisters" and "Darling Sisters": Translating and Transplanting the Joual in Micheal Tremblay's Les Belles-Soeurs |url=https://journals.lib.unb.ca/index.php/TRIC/article/view/7065 |journal=Theatre Research in Canada / Recherches théâtrales au Canada |language=en |issn=1913-9101}}</ref>

Writing in ''Joual'' gave Tremblay an opportunity to resist cultural and linguistic "imperialism" of France, while signifying the secularization of Québec culture.<ref name="Dunnett">{{Cite journal |last=Dunnett |first=Jane |date=2006 |title=Postcolonial Constructions in Québécois Theatre of the 1970s: The Example of ''Mistero buffo'' |journal=Romance Studies |volume=24 |issue=2 |pages=117–131 |doi=10.1179/174581506x120082 |s2cid=143556398}}</ref>