julienne is when the carrot is in small match-stick-sized pieces specifically shred a carrot could mean to grate it, it's more general The word julienne is common in France as a way to describe the shape and size of the vegetable, but not so much in England but it does exist.

Julienne is a fancy word to cut the carrot in the style of thin sticks. Don't use it that much really in Australia. Only if you watch Masterchef. Julian is a persons name.

They are both natural. Julienne means to slice into thin strips about the size of matchsticks. Shred means to cut or tear something into small pieces.

You can say either. "Julienne" is a specific process, though. "To Julienne a carrot" is to shred it in a particular way. It's like saying "cook an egg" versus "poach an egg." To poach an egg is to cook it in a particular way. "Julienne" is specialized vocabulary, but it's pretty common. Many specialized fields have their own specialized vocabulary. I talk about a "pig," but a farmer knows the differences between a "pig," a "hog," a "sow," a "barrow," a "boar," a "gilt," a "weaner," a "feeder," etc. It means to cut something into very thin pieces a couple of inches long. It's done precisely, the pieces are almost exactly alike. When my wife wants to julienne something, she doesn't use a knife. She uses a tool called a "mandoline," which uses a flat bar to push the vegetable against a fixed, wavy steel knife. I checked Wikipedia, and it says the origin of the word "julienne" is unknown, while a dictionary says it is "probably" from the French name "Julienne."

Shredding can be accomplished with a knife, grater, or even using one's hands and does not indicate a size. You could say that your dog shredded the newspaper before you had a chance to read it. To julienne is culinary process for cutting vegetables into match-stick sized pieces. According to the Auguste Escoffier School of Cooking a French knife is the perfect tool to julienne vegetables, but there are also tools like the Mandolin Slicer that can make even more uniform julienned vegetables than a skilled chef with a French knife. Naturally, you can say what ever you like and if the person you are speaking with knows what you are talking about you don't have a problem, but there is a big difference between the two terms.