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(don't speak French but obviously will be priority#1 if I move)
Just wanted your thoughts.
Been feeling really down, where I want to live the most (Toronto) it seems to we have to move more and more out of the city/region just to find a place that is affordable and not rat infested.
Wanted your thoughts as someone who would go there alone, no friends/family/relationships, if it was something you'd consider smart, stupid, or it depends. I'm not getting any younger and feel like I'm constantly waiting for my life to start.
What do you do for a living, and what would you be looking to do here? Only starting to learn French after you've moved might make pulling off the move to begin with difficult.
I work in IT, I figure there are some anglophones who live there and dont speak French so I figured I may be able to (at least that's what colleagues say).
I just enjoy shows, going out to nice restaurants, and love that big city feel...that sort of thing
Even if in IT, I'd strongly recommend lining up a job before arriving in Montreal.
IT is one sector where it is definitely possible to find work without French in Montreal, but there are probably way more places than you think that won't hire people who don't speak the language - for a variety of reasons.
Depending on where you work, you may find your opportunities for advancement hindered due to not being bilingual. I am repeating this only because I've heard this from *a lot* of people who moved to Montreal for "English only" jobs and found themselves stuck in the same job for years or stuck at the same level.
In a number of tangible and intangible ways (the job market being a critical one of them), Montreal can be a considerably smaller city than its 4 milllion+ population suggests if one only speaks English.
Honestly I was skeptical too but if I were a unilingual Anglophone who could secure a job in IT knowing only English in either city and make the same money, I'd choose Montreal and then work on my French. It'd be a tough adjustment with everything else involved with a move, but Montreal is the best value in Canada in terms of big cities vs
cost of living/quality of life. I made that move from Vancouver a couple years ago and do not regret the decision (although I am originally from here and so just needed to polish off my linguistic skills not obtain them from scratch). It's a leap of faith but I would not advise against it, there's a reasonable chance it could be a good choice if OP works in IT and could thus secure a job early on and then adapt. I know similar sorts of people who learned enough French afterwards and made a successful go.
Still, you find that job before you move, and you start brushing up on French now.
Montreal is honestly a very attractive city and I would say that the real estate market in Montreal is still undervalued. You will have to hurry up before it gets more expensive because it will, even though it would seem like peanuts compared to Toronto. I am guessing that more people would choose Montreal over cities like Toronto, Vancouver in the future due to the affordability.
If you want to master French, you have to be very aggressive about it because it's hard to learn French living in Montreal. Everyone speaks English and it is easy to fall into the trap of surrounding yourself in English when you get here. I would even suggest living in Quebec City for a while just to immerse yourself in French. That's what I would have done.
Montreal is honestly a very attractive city and I would say that the real estate market in Montreal is still undervalued. You will have to hurry up before it gets more expensive because it will, even though it would seem like peanuts compared to Toronto. I am guessing that more people would choose Montreal over cities like Toronto, Vancouver in the future due to the affordability.
If you want to master French, you have to be very aggressive about it because it's hard to learn French living in Montreal. Everyone speaks English and it is easy to fall into the trap of surrounding yourself in English when you get here. I would even suggest living in Quebec City for a while just to immerse yourself in French. That's what I would have done.
They make it hard for you to learn French but then they require its knowledge for many (most?) jobs.
Including some where the necessity of it isn't always apparent to you, right?
They make it hard for you to learn French but then they require its knowledge for many (most?) jobs.
Including some where the necessity of it isn't always apparent to you, right?
Well I mean of course if you want to call Quebec your home, you need to strive to achieve full proficiency in French, regardless of whether your job requires French or not.
There are actually quite a lot of jobs out there especially in IT where just a rudimentary level of French is just enough. The problem is many immigrants stop right there. I have friends who are immigrants and allophones working in IT. I don't think they will ever pick up French.
It is a big commitment you must make. I mean, socializing is the best way to learn a language. Unfortunately, in Montreal, in the social scene people will switch to English once they sense that you are struggling with French.
If I could have gone back to 2014, I would have went straight to Quebec City or elsewhere I am pressed to speak French.
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