>>does anybody know how much French accents differ from region to region, not to mention from France itself to other countries such as Belgium, Switzerland, Canada? <<
Bingley,
Here's an illustration of how French has changed in one region over time:
My father had his early education in France, since his father was travelling in "Darkest Africa", and the family was somewhat fragmented. So Dad spoke a very fluent and rich French. I learnt French from him, but it was not the language we spoke at home.
Dad maintained a regular correspondnce with French speakers, thus maintaining his vocabulary, or so he thought. When he and my mother travelled to visit family in France in later life, he discovered, to his great dismay, that he was almost lost in the language - spoken French had moved so far in the intervening years. A comment made to him by a cousin was to the effect that he was talking archaic French.
He seldom used the language after that.
I guess any language and its vocabulary will grow and develop, but the key here is that the pronounciation itself had shifted.
