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You may be proud what the French are doing, but it is exactly what builds a wall between them and the rest of North America. Let's look at this from an English speaker's perspective now. (I'm not even a native English speaker, I'm a immigrant from Eastern Europe fyi)
A lot of English have no need to come to Montreal outside of vacationing. Why would they if they have a choice of all of N.America with cities having better weather, lower taxes, no corruption and adequate infrastructure.
North Americans come to Montreal for school in McGill or Concordia or because they stumbled upon a job offer here. It's also a proven fact that these same group of people leave after finishing up and settle elsewhere.
This phenomenon creates the language situation you are describing, keeping the city stagnant.
Montreal may not be progressing to your liking but it is certainly not stagnant. Now, if the French language (and lack of sufficient "love" for English I guess) is what is keeping Montreal down, how is it that there are so many places in both Canada and the United States where the English language can blossom totally unfettered, yet are either stagnant or even seriously declining? Far worse than Montreal even!
So if I want to visit Montreal for a week, Will I have problem? I do have a knowledge of basic FRench but is the city like against-English?
My partner and me might even consider moving there for a job in a couple of years...will not-speaking-fluent-French hurt our chances of landing a job?
To visit you would be fine but to find a job you absolutely will have a much easier time if you are bilingual. Bilingualism on the Montreal job market is a must....remember, French is the majority language....you're lucky if English is spoken since you're in a francophone city - they are accommodating you, not vice-versa.
You can get by as a VSITIOR just fine. All native Anglophone's who live here are bilingual to some degree or another. Learning another language isn't easy, but it's not that tough to learn enough to get by, depending on what industry you work in. I'd cetainly recommend coming, don't be too daunted by the challenge, you might just find you enjoy learning a new language and immersing in a new culture!
Visitors should have an okay time speaking English only, but will likely encounter some people who only speak very limited English. Here in Toronto I grew up as a kid learning French in school up until grade 11 at an enriched level, and continued to learn on my own afterwards (in addition to taking 1 intermediate level course in university). I can speak some French, although my reading skills are better than my writing and oral skills. However, I've still had 1 or 2 occasions of difficulty trying to communicate with a store employee in Montreal, during the 7 times I've visited.
There's only a wall if you can't speak French. I'm an English-speaker from Minnesota, but I also speak (Canadian) French, so that wall doesn't exist for me. I believe every English school in Canada and the U.S. teaches French, so anyone who wants to connect with Quebec can do so by learning French. You can even send your child to a French-speaking immersion school here in Minnesota if you wish. Plus, Montreal is 25% English-speaking. You can do whatever you want in English, if you are really desperate enough to do so.
I'm seriously considering moving to Quebec someday. Not Montreal, but maybe Quebec City, Rimouski, Three Rivers (Trois-Rivières in French), Sherbrooke or one of the smaller towns around those cities. I like Quebec's culture, progressiveness, atmosphere, climate and yes, its Frenchness. For me, the only drawback of living in Quebec (other than being further away from family and friends) would be living in a heavily forested environment -- I'm from the Midwest, and I love the serenity of the open prairie.
Better weather? Maybe I'm crazy, but I don't think Sunbelt cities like Houston, Dallas, Miami or Jacksonville with 9 months of 30+ degree C heat and humidity have "good weather." That weather is miserable. I'll take Canada's four seasons over that any day. Also, many Canadians seem to think all of the U.S. is warmer than Canada, which is not true. Minneapolis, for example, has colder winters than Montreal, Toronto, Quebec City, Calgary, Vancouver or pretty much any Canadian city except Winnipeg.
I appreciate the high taxes, because it also means the social services are top-notch. You can live in Alberta or South Dakota and pay no income taxes, but there's much less of a social safety net in those places than in Quebec or a U.S. state like Massachusetts or Vermont.
As for corruption -- have you ever been to Chicago? Or Detroit? Or pretty much any major American city? Montreal's corruption is nothing by comparison.
There are plenty of (non-Quebec) North Americans who move to Montreal and Greater Quebec. The reverse is also true -- I've seen Quebecers in places like Georgia, Florida, Ohio and Michigan.
Inaccurate statement. Yes, it's hot and humid here from June until the middle of September. However, it's NOT 9 months of hot and humid weather like you say.
From October - mid May, the weather is usually perfect: short winters with no snow, low humidity and balmy weather. In fact, it's very common to walk around in short and a t shirt in the winter.
Hello everyone, I am looking for a decent neighborhood in Montreal where there are English speaking communities, as I plan on relocating with my two children. Any other information about relocating would be helpful at this point?
Was there twice this year. Just about everybody seems to speak English. You might run into the odd prick that does speak English and will pretend not too...But if you have money in your hand- they all comply...just be prepared to feel you are in backward land.
They use international symbols in most road signs. The names of streets however will only be in French.
I lived there for 40 years, am no longer there but have not seen many changes when I do go back. LOL
Quote:
Originally Posted by metaldome
Are signs or at least menus in English and French?
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