French in Montreal? (how much, living, population)
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I visited Montreal over the summer(I'm going to apply to McGill for my masters and was visiting) and was a little surprised how much English I heard being spoken for such a French city. Granted, I was mostly around McGill and Vieux-Montreal so I certainly wasn't in the most francophone of spots,(and it was tourist season) but I was still surprised. Even when I held the door for another man he said "Thank You" instead of "Merci". I'm aware it is a very bilingual city, but the conversations must have been at a 3:2 ratio of French to English which doesn't match the language demographics of the city.
That being said I've taken a little bit of an interest in the language wars of Quebec, as an American. Do you guys think that Montreal is becoming more English as time goes on? Is French losing ground? Or is everything being blown out of proportion? I'm curious to see what actual inhabitants of the province think, those who have much more experience with the city than I do.
I visited Montreal over the summer(I'm going to apply to McGill for my masters and was visiting) and was a little surprised how much English I heard being spoken for such a French city. Granted, I was mostly around McGill and Vieux-Montreal so I certainly wasn't in the most francophone of spots,(and it was tourist season) but I was still surprised. Even when I held the door for another man he said "Thank You" instead of "Merci". I'm aware it is a very bilingual city, but the conversations must have been at a 3:2 ratio of French to English which doesn't match the language demographics of the city.
That being said I've taken a little bit of an interest in the language wars of Quebec, as an American. Do you guys think that Montreal is becoming more English as time goes on? Is French losing ground? Or is everything being blown out of proportion? I'm curious to see what actual inhabitants of the province think, those who have much more experience with the city than I do.
No and no. I find that Frecnch is gaining ground.
I work in a small English hospital, where the majority of the clients speak English. However, èverything is now in French, from posters to directions to menus to emails to inservices. Even much of the new staff being hired is unilingual francophone, which is beyond insane. They can't communicate with the patients.
I would say that English has undergone a slight resurgence over the past few years, but still, as others have said it's nothing compared to how "English" Montreal was even as recently as the late 1970s.
In those days a visitor from somewhere else in Canada and the U.S. would not have noticed as much of a difference as today between Montreal and their hometowns.
As for the people walking around downtown speaking in English, yeah probably about half of them are locals (Montreal has a good 20-25% anglo population) and roughly another half are people from other parts of Canada or from the States spending time in the city.
It's also worth noting that even though some of us are speaking English, we speak French too. If I am with my bilingual friends, we tend to speak English. That, and it's easy to spot a tourist! Living out in a small French town, I can spot "ONTARIO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" a million miles away
I can't believe how warped people's view of Montreal has become after only a few decades. Now all of the sudden Montreal is a Francophone city where English is a foreign language, forcing it's way in?
I can't believe how warped people's view of Montreal has become after only a few decades. Now all of the sudden Montreal is a Francophone city where English is a foreign language, forcing it's way in?
Montreal is officially French speaking city. English is a minority language, and yes foreign.
I can't believe how warped people's view of Montreal has become after only a few decades. Now all of the sudden Montreal is a Francophone city where English is a foreign language, forcing it's way in?
Its a political ploy, The separatist government has mandated its followers to label the bilingual city of Montreal a French city even though in reality anyone can see its a bilingual city.,its all part of the ongoing effort from the separatists to marginalize Anglos with the hope they'll all realize theres no place for them in Quebec and they'll all leave leaving Quebec a pure francophone demographic/country.
Montreal is officially French speaking city. English is a minority language, and yes foreign.
I become so sad when I hear people say things like this, like my people never even existed, despite such a storied history. In my own country, in BC, I hear things like this. The English speaking community with which I identify culturally has been in Montreal for 250 years. We are not foreigners, and I spit on the separatists for not constructing an idea of nationalism that could include and accept that reality. Hell, if they could, I wouldn't care so much to fight that ideology.
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Living out in a small French town, I can spot "ONTARIO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" a million miles away 
