Montreal for non french speaker?

Darraghgt4

Hi
im considering moving to montreal to start my working holiday towards the end of the year. I made contact with somebody who I met in Australia and would like to meet up. She is bilingual with her first language being french, I however do not speak any french and am wondering if this will hinder my experience living there? For example finding a job, interacting with strangers, social situations even going into a shop to buy something.. I have heard most people are not too keen on speaking english,is this true?
Learning french is out of the question I am terrible at languages.

Any tips appreciated!

el diablo

Darraghgt4 wrote: »

Hi
im considering moving to montreal to start my working holiday towards the end of the year. I made contact with somebody who I met in Australia and would like to meet up. She is bilingual with her first language being french, I however do not speak any french and am wondering if this will hinder my experience living there? For example finding a job, interacting with strangers, social situations even going into a shop to buy something.. I have heard most people are not too keen on speaking english,is this true?
Learning french is out of the question I am terrible at languages.

Any tips appreciated!

It will definitely hinder your ability to find a job. Many Quebecers are quite dismissive of non-French speakers. French is one of the easier languages to learn and things will be a lot easier if you at least attempt to speak the local language.

montreal2011

"I however do not speak any french and am wondering if this will hinder my experience living there?"

Yes it will, and for the reasons you state: "finding a job, interacting with strangers, social situations even going into a shop to buy something."

However, to what extent will depend on what part of the island of Montreal you live or work in and what domain of work you are looking for. For example, in Montreal in IT, it's probably better to have English and no French, then French and no English. If you are in construction, you will need French with few exceptions.

Canada is officially bilingual, but Quebec is officially French only. Outside of the island of Montreal, you need to assume that no one will be able to speak English. On the island of Montreal it's a mix, most people speak both French and English, with the east side of the island being predominantly French speaking and the west side predominantly English speaking. There is plenty to do in Montreal for those with English only, but unless you work and live in the west of the island only, you will miss out on some job opportunities and you will feel left out in some social situations without French.

A tip to know if you may get away with English only is if the job advert is translated to English, or they say "bi-lingual / English essential". It's required that each job is advertised in French, any other language is optional, so often if a company goes to the bother of making an English version of the ad, it may be an indicator that they want or that they'll accept English (only) speakers. Also it's illegal to discriminate against French speakers, they can say "French speakers only"; they cannot say "English speakers only".

"I have heard most people are not too keen on speaking English,is this true?"

Some people, more so the older generation, are fiercely protective of French's priority status and will not engage, or rudely engage with you if you start off speaking to them in English. Up until the 60's English was the main language in Montreal and it was harder to French speakers to get work. Laws were enacted to ensure that French was the official and priority language in society and work. It was somewhat akin to the Protestant / Catholic societal hierarchy in Northern Ireland at the time. It's easy to get around the anti English sentiment, just say bonjour instead of hello or hi, and typically they will be amused by your accent and happy that you are trying to speak French. They won't waste time with your poor French and will continue in English, if they can. Most people in the downtown core will be bilingual.

In short you can, and many people do, live and work in Montreal with no French, but your opportunities will be reduced.

Darraghgt4

montreal2011 wrote: »

"I however do not speak any french and am wondering if this will hinder my experience living there?"

Yes it will, and for the reasons you state: "finding a job, interacting with strangers, social situations even going into a shop to buy something."

However, to what extent will depend on what part of the island of Montreal you live or work in and what domain of work you are looking for. For example, in Montreal in IT, it's probably better to have English and no French, then French and no English. If you are in construction, you will need French with few exceptions.

Canada is officially bilingual, but Quebec is officially French only. Outside of the island of Montreal, you need to assume that no one will be able to speak English. On the island of Montreal it's a mix, most people speak both French and English, with the east side of the island being predominantly French speaking and the west side predominantly English speaking. There is plenty to do in Montreal for those with English only, but unless you work and live in the west of the island only, you will miss out on some job opportunities and you will feel left out in some social situations without French.

A tip to know if you may get away with English only is if the job advert is translated to English, or they say "bi-lingual / English essential". It's required that each job is advertised in French, any other language is optional, so often if a company goes to the bother of making an English version of the ad, it may be an indicator that they want or that they'll accept English (only) speakers. Also it's illegal to discriminate against French speakers, they can say "French speakers only"; they cannot say "English speakers only".

"I have heard most people are not too keen on speaking English,is this true?"

Some people, more so the older generation, are fiercely protective of French's priority status and will not engage, or rudely engage with you if you start off speaking to them in English. Up until the 60's English was the main language in Montreal and it was harder to French speakers to get work. Laws were enacted to ensure that French was the official and priority language in society and work. It was somewhat akin to the Protestant / Catholic societal hierarchy in Northern Ireland at the time. It's easy to get around the anti English sentiment, just say bonjour instead of hello or hi, and typically they will be amused by your accent and happy that you are trying to speak French. They won't waste time with your poor French and will continue in English, if they can. Most people in the downtown core will be bilingual.

In short you can, and many people do, live and work in Montreal with no French, but your opportunities will be reduced.

Great thorough advice, thank you!

Scarinae

Thanks for starting the thread, as this is something I’ve been wondering about as well! I’m planning to move to Montreal in the next 18 months or so to live with my boyfriend - he is from the anglophone community but speaks both fluently. I learned Spanish in school and only know a few bits and bobs in French (like reading a menu) but I’ve started using Duolingo to pick up some more basics (although it’s clearly French like they speak in France rather than Québécois). I’ve heard that you can do intensive/immersive language courses when you arrive in Montreal but I haven’t looked much into it yet.

I am a bit concerned that I’ll find it difficult to get work as I work in editorial - I feel like even if I manage to get to a reasonable standard of spoken French it will be quite difficult to get good enough to write and edit in the language to a stringent enough level. I should be able to freelance at least but I'd prefer to get a full-time job if possible.