Moving to Canada??

[foxhound87]

Hi Guys,

Moving to Montreal, Canada in the next 6 weeks or so and am hoping to pick up a second language (French) I have a work visa for one year and am hoping to see the USA as well. My question is however is it easy enough to get by in Montreal with the French basics?, as I am Australian I have never used a secong language before. I'm a good bartender so I think i'll it pick up quite fast. Also if anyone knows any good places to visit, or cheap (not dodgy) Hostels please let me know.

Cheers!

 

[So pimp its scary]

Quebecers are pricks (as a general rule), in the sense that alot of them if they tell you can't speak french well, as example, might not serve you at the corner store.

I hear the nightlife is awesome in montreal tho.

 

[foxhound87]

I suppose every country has it's fair share of pricks, lol should be good fun then.

 

[showtime17]

....

You can get by in Montreal just with English. (not in the rest of Quebec though) There are even many people who speak French poorly and get by only with English.

 

[2_intense2]

mostly everyone speaks english on mtl. but you could always just go to the library and check out french for beginners, and learn the basic and most used phrases.

 

[SucceedSocially]

Montreal has a lot of English speakers, especially with all the tourists and university students. There are whole neighborhoods that are primarily English. There will still be times when the person you want to talk to doesn't speak English at all, but you can probably get by with basic French then, or talk to someone else.

Job wise, your options may be limited if you aren't bilingual, but you can usually still find something, even if it's unglamorous like telemarketing.

 

[Kwello]

Yeah Montreal is heavily English speaking, you'll be more than fine.

 

[Fred Da Head]

Quebecers are pricks (as a general rule), in the sense that alot of them if they tell you can't speak french well, as example, might not serve you at the corner store.

I hear the nightlife is awesome in montreal tho.

Considering you only "heard" about the nightlife, is it safe to say you only "heard" about the Quebecois being pricks? One is bull****, the other is true. Guess which is which?

As a generaly rule, people in Montreal will be fine with you speaking in English, especially if you try to speak a bit of French and suck at it. Heck, most Quebecois will just switch to English if they notice you can't speak French at all--it's even a complaint by some people who want to learn French but can't because all the Quebecois speak to them only in English!

There are pricks everywhere. I have a French accent and sometimes I get crappy treatment in Ontario. I guess that mean residents from the ROC (Rest Of Canada) are a**holes, right?

 

[Call_Me_Daddy]

The more west you go, the warmer the people are. With Quebec being pricks as a rule of thumb.

You want a nice place to live?

Boston seems like a fantastic place when I visited.


Yes, I am Canadian. And I will move into the States if all this political garbage and corruption in Washington dies down a little bit. Just like after Vietnam.

Its affecting business.

 

[So pimp its scary]

Considering you only "heard" about the nightlife, is it safe to say you only "heard" about the Quebecois being pricks? One is bull****, the other is true. Guess which is which?

As a generaly rule, people in Montreal will be fine with you speaking in English, especially if you try to speak a bit of French and suck at it. Heck, most Quebecois will just switch to English if they notice you can't speak French at all--it's even a complaint by some people who want to learn French but can't because all the Quebecois speak to them only in English!

There are pricks everywhere. I have a French accent and sometimes I get crappy treatment in Ontario. I guess that mean residents from the ROC (Rest Of Canada) are a**holes, right?

I haven't been to montreal, but I have been to Quebec city... So, I dunno if montreal is more tolerant, but even tho I speak french (minus quebec slang) I was still running into alot of pricks I mean, like in the example : I had a hard time getting served at the corner stores.

So maybe it was a cold generalisation, but even tho there are pricks everywhere, the attitude that I encountered was alot more standoffish than most anywhere else I've been in Canada... and people from toronto tend to be self-important bastards too... Nicest people I've met are from the east coast, and from winnipeg (slight bias cause I'm from there).

Sorry if I came across as a bigot...

 

[Monaco]

Yes, Montreal is more tolerant but I found Quebec City to be pretty accomodating too. They both have such a huge tourism industry that it is pretty much required they are tolerant now.

Quebec as a whole is a very interesting place. Quite possibly the most interesting part of Canada. Montreal is an absolutely beautiful city, and one of the cultural centers of North America. There are countless things to do whether it be sports, museums, nightlife, concerts and so on. The food is also outstanding. If you need more info about specific places, send me a PM and I'll help you out .. I'm originally from there.

 

[Fred Da Head]

+1 on the food, Monaco, especially poutine

 

[Fred Da Head]

Just until 4? Wow, that blows. I used to go to the Aria before they closed; lots of hot women and world-reknowned DJs, until 10 in the morning.

Where's the Circus, though? I've never heard of it.

 

[Fred Da Head]

Pretty much all the good clubs are "around" St. Cath's, really. Anyway, I shall inquire further next time I'm in town.

 

[Fenderules]

welcome to canada and enjoy!

 

[Kwello]

Quebec City is very anglicized and isn't a great representation of eastern Quebec.

There's pricks everywhere though and in general, people can be pricks to people who they view as different. Francophones seem like pricks to Anglophones and vice versa.

 

[Fred Da Head]

You don't need to speak perfect French. In fact (and I haven't proven this... yet) it's probably better if you speak only broken French. Every time I'm out with my Anglo buddies on St. Cath's, the girls LOVE their "cute accent" and I'm left watching the pitcher, because I'm the only French guy in the group.

I actually intend to try and go to Montreal with some of my Anglo friends and adopt an Anglo accent, and see if it works better than French. Should be interesting.

 

[bob2007]

The girls there seem a lot more easy going than Toronto honestly. But then again I went during a bachelor party weekend in Montreal and a buncha them were at their bachelorette party. Everyone there seemed to speak English. I wanted to practice my French! We all had a great time, there was a beach like thing there, clubs, strip clubs (cover fees + bouncer fees... I feel like we got ripped off).

I didn't like the food there tho. I felt like I didn't get a great meal at any of the places downtown. But then again maybe we didn't spend enough.

Any of you guys think that place Swartz's is overated? Everyone in my group was raving bout it being the best smoked meat ever. I feel like I had better montreal smoked meat at my local deli. Swartz's meat was like luke warm, non - juicy, and not much smoke flavour.

 

[foxhound87]

Great..

Awesome sounds great I"m landing in Vancouver which I hear is a fantastic city, also which USA cities would you guys reccomend (Bear in mind i'll basically be a poor backpacker) I hear Seattle's good, as well as Boston..Any ideas??

 

[showtime17]

Most of the clubs and bars in Montreal are on St. Laurent or on Crescent Streets. Usually you pay 10 bucks to get in, but a tip is to try to get free tickets that they sometimes distribute around on St. Catherine or get on the guest list. Getting in free to clubs in Montreal is actually easier than in other places.