Can You Live in Montreal as an English Speaker? (It's Complicated)
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- Опубліковано 29 тра 2024
- Does Montreal speak French or English or both? Let's get into it.
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0:00 - Languages in Montreal
2:34 - Part 1: When in Rome, do as the Romans
6:05 - Part 2: But wait... this is Canada, right?
9:00 - Part 3: It's even more complicated than that
13:33 - Part 4: Bilingualism is beautiful
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#montreal #quebec #canada
Montreal is a beautiful city with a complicated language situation. Today, I share my thoughts.
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Personally, I hate Canadians like you who down grade the U.S. for no reason. Your last statement about "set in your ways, I only speak English, leave that to the Americans". You could have said that dozens countries in the world where there is only one national language. The US is the most diverse country in the world and in order communicate with one another, they speak English.
So because Quebec was colonized by the English without agreeing to it, they should not speak English? What do the native Americans think of that? Hmm...
As a Latino that I am and an immigrant in Montreal, Canada, despite the fact that I arrived without knowing a word of French, I have done my best to learn it in the francization classes offered by the government, not only as a show of respect for this society but also because it is important to integrate socially, and at work to be able to contribute and feel at home. In addition to speaking Spanish, English now I speak French... and it is definitely a competitive advantage in this market, I encourage all immigrants who want to settle here to learn French.
Pero también sabiendo Español lo hace mucho más fácil aprender francés comparado a lo que es para los que sólo hablan Inglés.
Ah mais quand vous allez à la Catalogne l'histoire change complètement...
És com que vos convé que la altra llengua sia el castellà perquè lo xerreu i aixina vos torneu colons. Venjança t'oses a trucar-lo? Vergonyós...
Anglophones in Quebec are privileged compared to francophones in the rest of Canada ... After 500 years , most of anglophones in Canada have never changed ... unilingual and thinking english is superior .... bashing on Quebec and its culture... same in england , most of british speak only one language but most of europeans speak multiple languages ...
Spanish, italian , french , english are all easy languages to learn ... english vocabulary is 30 %french and 30 %latin ... no excuses ,
@@plant.hacks.4.ur.environment english language comes from french 30 % and latin 30 % ... 30 % of english vocabulary is french
I am québécois, was born in Montreal and fluent in both languages. Even those who are not fluent in English are still able to understand and speak English…..sometimes with a bit of difficulty.
My experience with what you call « franglais » happens when a Franco and an Anglo have such a relationship that both individuals will switch from one language to the other as a way to show respect to the other.
I am now retired but in our office, we had Anglos and Francos……our conversations would always switch from one language to the other. This was natural because we were respectful for each other's culture and languages. There was a time when French speaking québécois would be told to « speak white »……this was wrong! Now, it never happens because for the last what 40 years, real québécois English or French have learned to respect each other.
I have a personal story that happened to me in Toronto…..which is located in Canada's « bilingual » country. I had lunch with a few colleagues from our Toronto office and one of our boss from the USA. During a conversation, I made a grammar error in English. One of my colleague made fun of me. I immediately switched in French and gave him shit for about 30 seconds. Of course no one understood what I was saying but they all knew I was pissed off. When I finished talking in French, my colleague said « you know I don’t speak French » I said I know, this is why you never make errors speaking French. If I make an error when speaking English, please correct me BUT never make fun of me! Montrealers never think they are better than others. To the contrary, we are interested in others. Big difference between Montrealers and Torontonians!
Great insight. As an American, I really appreciate your story and examples!
I love your Toronto story - the way you handled it was _perfect!!_ : " « you know I don’t speak French » I said I know, this is why you never make errors speaking French." There's an arrogance about monolingual people that only goes away when they make a real effort to function in another language; then it's, like, "Oh shit, this is really hard..." They learn respect for those who have done the work to function in _their_ language.
@@pbasswil thanks for your comments. Just to add to my story, I lived six years in France when my American employer transferred me to Paris. I noticed that the French people are so proud of mastering their language that they prefer not to use their second language 'cause they are afraid of making an error. That taught me a lesson, never be afraid to make errors when speaking a language that is not you mother tong. The more you speak it, the more you'll get better. I travelled a lot and one day, my wife and I were in Mandalay Myanmar when a person who turned out to be a local English teacher asked if I spoke English. I answered yes and he asked me if I was willing to give a lecture to his students. I accepted with pleasure. As part of my English course to the students, I explained I was from the French part of Canada and that I learned English by watching TV as a kid. I also explained that in my job, I had to use both French and English. French being my mother tong while English was a tool that I needed in my job. I also told them what we were doing in Myanmar, what we liked about their country etc. I also told them they could ask questions that I would be very happy to answer. Because I was the first non English speaker to be invited to give them a lecture, they could mesure the effort I put in learning English. This is probably why one of the question was …… « what should we do to improved the quality of our English the way you improved yours»? My answer was:
- first, you are doing the right thing by taking English lessons,
- two, take every opportunity to speak, read, listen to English…..you are so lucky that internet is way better than the 1960's TV programs to learn English
- three, never be afraid of making an error….making errors will allow others to help you improving your English skills
- now, especially when speaking English with tourists, if ever you make an English error and the person makes fun of you instead of helping you correcting your error…..I have a suggestion…just switch in Burmese and continue the conversation….I am sure your English is way better than their Burmese language…..if they just a bit smart, they'll get the message!!
Hope this other story has been of interest to you.
PS I never learned English grammar. I learned it by writing English memos to my American colleagues…..I write English like I talk English.
@@YONFT7079 So interesting, Jacques. The fact that you write English like you speak is a good thing, imho - you communicate so well, so directly. I try to do that too, and English is my own language. The days when you needed to imitate the great authors of the past when you wrote, have faded away, thank goodness! Cheers.
Y'a des cons partout. Je vis à Toronto depuis 30 ans and I never came across that kind of a situation.
In Puerto Rico the vast majority of tourists who visit us come from the US. Only some of them have the courtesy to ask if one speaks English before asking anything. Most assume that everyone on the island knows or speaks English, which is not the case. It doesn't bother me to answer them in English, but I think that one should show respect for the culture of the region or country that is visiting and not pretend that local people adapt to your needs. I don't speak French, but before visiting Montreal and Quebec City I learned basic phrases.. and if it was something more complicated, I would first ask people if they spoke Spanish or English (in French) and never had any problems.
Bravo! If only more people had your attitude. I am a French-speaker in Québec and disgusted when people don’t even start out with a bonjour. Ce n’est pas chic!
I speak fluent Spanish and although I love Puerto Rico, I have had so many people answer me in English. I am pretty Irish looking so they see this guy looking like he is from Dublin speaking Spanish and they just cant handle it. It is actually a bit annoying. I think also that some but not all francophones too are not patient enough to let people speak in French who are trying practice the language. In order to preserve the language, you have to let learners of French in practice and improve. My French has gotten very good over the years so it doesn't happen too much but occasionally, I'll someone answer me in English.
hehe same feeling here in quebec.
@@OdinWannaBe Same feeling about what, please?
@@simonledoux8519 Not true, Québécois are very patient but many have been brainwahed to speak in english . Even the prime of Quebec legault did the same thing !
As an American who's lived near the US-Canadian border most of my life and visited Canada many times, I've always wondered if the not-really-bilingual situation in Canada could be helped if the CBC used subtitles instead of dubbing whenever a person spoke French (or another language) on English-language TV and vice versa. My Canadian cousins all speak French and English (one even lives in France now), so when I found out that only a small fraction (~10%) of all Canadians outside Quebec could do the same, I was quite shocked.
Making French more audible, visible, and accessible on English-language Canadian media might make francophones in Québéc feel a little less cornered and a little more connected and appreciated by the rest of the country. What do people here think?
As an English native speaker with intermediate French, I couldn't agree more. It's so annoying when I'm listening to dubbed French when I know I could understand just as good in the original.
Extremely shallow solition it will not do shit
Agree, lowkey infuriate my inner Queb when I see news in English Canada dubbing my language lmao, like use subtitle maybe as a respect for the "second official" language. It is this way that I did learn English. I would also like that the other provinces provide access to the French tv channel. Like if we could hear artist from QC on the radio in other provinces, see QC TVShows example with subtitle or even dubbed throughout Canada, would feel more Canadian.
I watch the news in French on Radio Canada and hate it when they dub live English speeches into French.
@@mylenedm Is this the téléjournal? I listen to the radiojournal all the time and they don't typically dub english. Usually they'll just summarize it after in French.
I'm from Halifax but have lived in Montreal for 12 years, and I'm fluent in French (I was in French immersion in school but I had to RE-learn French to get by here). You articulated my exact thoughts on this topic better than I ever could.
I am a francophone that lives in New-Brunswick, technically the only "bilingual" province. And to be quite honest, even though both languages are at the same level in the provincial laws, there only very few places where you can live your life in french without knowing english. I work in a store in Bathurst and even though more than half of my clientèle is francophone, almost all the employees are anglophones and most of them are not bilingual. It's actually a horrible headache for francophones, but not for anglophones because most of them don't really care.
Exactly. The free market doesn't work with language, especially when the market for your language is small & competes with another, much bigger language like English.
Jobs are a clear example like you've given, the tech/it industry in Montreal is leaning more and more toward English, content creators will turn toward English because the population of Quebec cannot financially support that many French content creators while if you speak English you have the entire world.
As the things around you lean more and more toward English, you start to speak more and more English, you incorporate more English words and slowly you lose your language.
@@Boby9333 I don't think you fully understand my point here. The majority of the clients of that store are francophone. It's not a demand problem, it's a lack of caring from the anglophone problem, and most definitely a lack of laws in New-Brunswick problem. Québec is right to impose laws for being able to live your life in french.
@@Alternity666 I understand the clients are mostly Francophone. What I see is that we live in a sea of English people who don't care about learning and speaking French because they can live 100% in English in most if not all NB or the greater Montreal region. Second the fact we live in a sea of English people means most companies are owned and care more about English people than French. Unless there are laws to enforce the French language they have little to no incentive to force employees to speak French and would rather have everyone speak English because in NB & greater Montreal more people are fluent in English than French.
In Quebec we have laws yet it's not rare that we get served only in English in"the West Island. It pisses me off even more because so many words are so close and similar.
It's not rare for me to encounter someone who can't understand: Café, sucre, crème, trio etc when the equivalent is so similar both in writing and how they sound.
Acadian French not Quebecois French. Also a different history.
@@maryjeanjones7569 They are not that different my guy, I lived in Montréal for 20 years. There are all kind of accents even here in Bathurst, Haïtian, African, French, Acadian, Québecker, etc. The accent does not matter. Please explain why it does to you.
That grievance that you talk about comes from somewhere. What I mean by that is that lady at Rona, she's for sure been in a situation that french Québécois face all the time, 15 french speakers and 1 english speaker in a room, the 15 are forced to speak english because the 1 never bothered to learn french (not your case obviously). The billinguism is almost always just one way. When it's not just one way, french and english people get along pretty well in montréal. We don't mind speaking in bad english when you respond in bad french in return 🙂
I was working in a place where we dealt with speeding tickets. people were often calling complaining about the fact that the police officer didnt talk to them in english and that for that reason, the ticket should be canceled. and trust me they always got their tickets from regions like Bas-Saint-Laurent, Gaspésie, Saguenay. when asked why it should be canceled, they always answered 'because it's a bilingual country'. in these situations i some days, asked if the police officers in their province where all bilingual and if i could get it canceled if im not spoken to in french. i always got the same answer 'it's not the same thing' #doublestandard. a few times where the persons were pretty antagonistic about how bilingual Québec should be i asked 'cool, since it's a bilingual country, would you care that repeat that in french?' to my expectation, the person never had that capacity and got all insulted. I know was arrogant, and that i couldve lost my job for that (reasonably so), but jesus fuck having people insult you and your people on a daily basis for being a francophone (who's fully billingual and speaks english at a pretty good level) is pretty hard to get by without ever flinching.
My point is. We francophones can be a bunch of assholes sometimes toward anglophones. but thats far from being a one sided story. AND of course the vast majority of english speaking people were respectful
It's also a lot harder sometimes for two French speakers to talk to each other in English, more difficult than conversing with an English speaker. I used to work in France and yes I was one of those few who only spoke a little French (I did take lessons however) so we were often in a difficult situation in choosing which language to use, especially in popup meetings. Often like the girls mentioned in this video Franglish ended up being what we used. Even weirder back then (1989-1990) there was even a Franglish radio station, FUN Radio, I used to listen to, lol.
@@TheShadowgift J'ai toujours travaillé dans des endroits ou la majorité des gens sont francophones mais j'ai toujours fait un effort pour parler anglais avec les anglophones (qui, pour vaste la majorité, a Montréal, sont bilingues). En retour, ces anglos ont aussi fait un effort pour parler francais (je ne trouve pas les accents sur le clavier canadien...c'est un probleme que les anglophones n'ont pas, en passant 8-(
Not only that, but most people have like no clue to what extent the oppression was, which is sad !
Until the second half of the 20th century (not long ago, my parents lived thru this), the Francophone of Québec workers lived below the poverty line. Francophones did not join the executive ranks of the businesses of their own province and were not allowed higher education ! only like 10% made it to grade 11 !
Political activist and singer Félix Leclerc wrote: "Our people are the waterboys of their own country."
Duplessis's death in 1959, quickly followed by the sudden death of his successor Paul Sauvé, triggered the end of the Grande Noirceur and Duplessis Orphans (they were forcing mostly French and Native (poor) children into psych wards for English government funding and selling all our resources to foreigners , the Quiet Revolution finally begun. (well quiet till the 70 s where FLQ (Front de libération du Québec a Marxist-Leninist and Quebec separatist guerrilla group) started kidnapping, bombing and killing the English and British! but that's another story ! )
People in their 70 s + lived thru this and is why you will often get a colder shoulder from older generations.
@@jgjohnny7964 the thing that seems to be forgotten the most though, is that the indigenous people were here before the French. My friend who is Cree got beat up by French kids in his neighbourhood and told “we were here first” and he was like “ I’m fkn native you assholes” 😅
I have always loved the french language from the time I first heard it as a child. When I moved to Montreal in 2016, I immersed myself in french courses and completed 8 levels. I speak imperfect french everyday and still have a long way to go. I feel protective of this province, its language and culture. It really is a beautifully different culture from Ontario where I lived for most of my life. I feel 'at home' here despite my lack of french proficiency, I keep practicing speaking french daily to blend in as much as humanly possible out of respect for the french people of this province.
Merci beaucoup pour ce grand respect :)
Oui, merci. That is heartwarming.
Tu es la bienvenue. Nous voulons plus de gens comme toi ici et moins de pleurnicheurs qui vivent depuis des années et ne font aucun effort d'intégration.
I was teaching french to japanese people who already spoke english. They were so eager to learn and they put all the efforts in, even with prononciation difficulties and the grammar. If for example I would chose to live in Mexico, I would definitely learn how to speak spanish. Learning french is a plus on anyone's resume, many of my friends speak 3 to 4 languages. The beauty of Montreal lies in the many ethnic groups living in one city. We learn from each other about culture and recipes and so much more.
Montreal has a unique spirit and that's why it is so in demand.
Learning Spanish in Mexico is akin to learning English in the USA. Mexico is an overwhelmingly Spanish speaking country and mostly monolingual.
I'm from MB too, been living in Quebec since 2001. The first few months, travelling on the subway the first thing that hit me was 'what are they saying' because I couldn't translate enough in my block head. Took some time, but after marrying a québécoise woman in 2006, and having two perfectly bilingue kids, ça vaut la peine.
Super belle histoire. I wish happiness to you and your family.
I'm an English speaking Canadian from outside of Quebec and I do agree that bilingualism seems to be pretty one sided in reality. When I attend professional conference or meeting, they are always conducted in English even though the organization is officially bilingual. I really hope that true bilingualism can come into reality one day and everyone will be able to understand and speak English and French fluently.
because monolingual native english speaker think that they are granted to be served in english
@@9grand I don't see it that way. I think it's just more practical because English has been the more dominant language in Canada for a very long time and people are just used to the status quo. Usually, there are simultaneous translation at most of these professional meetings. However, when there is none, people just default to speaking English because almost everyone understands English. I'm not saying this is right or fair, but it is the way it is.
@@hkmarhk you can the right not to see that way ! But still have to respect it !
@@hkmarhk even in a country where the vast majority people do not undersrand english the monolingual native english speaker think he is granted to be served in english. Lol
@@9grand I understand your point that some monolingual English speakers think that everyone is able to understand and speak English wherever they go. But, I don't think only monolingual English speakers think like this. If you go to a country that is not English/French speaking, what language are gonna use to converse with the locals and ask for help? Unless you have learned the local language, most likely you are going to use English. And in that situation you probably hope that the local people do understand what you say in English.
Nice to see there are other Prairie boys out here in Montreal. Learning French is not a simple task, it's something that has to be worked at for years before it starts to feel like anything more than a slog. On the other hand, we accept that immigrants have to learn a second language to come to Canada, so why shouldn't we be able to learn a second language, especially since we get to stay in our own country? Being bilingual is a great tool for developing your intelligence and perspective. Even the situations where the language barrier is especially difficult, can be memories which motivate you to put in the effort that is required. And putting in that effort, you develop respect between yourself and the French speakers.
Some immigrants have to learn a third language when they move to Montreal lol
Lol, i have been 3 languages, now i am learning English but my intelligence is still low. If you think that studying ather languages make you more clever you mistake
I’m learning French. Planning to move to Québec in the next 3 years.
30 % of english vocabulary comes from the french language ... english is easier to learn than french but everybody can learn both languages
@@sd4822 it's actually been proven that learning a second language during childhood helps with brain development. In adulthood, I'm more talking about the perspective that comes from understanding another culture and language. You might feel like you're less intelligent than you want to be, but I guarantee you that the version of you that knows one language and not 3 has less worldly perspective, hypothetically
Merci mille fois. Moi aussi,, bien que je sois des États-Unis, je switch entre des langues all the time. Parfois, je ne sais pas que je le fais. Pour moi, les langues sont non seulement l'anglais et le francais mais aussi l'espagnol et le yiddish. Je me confonds tout le temps.
As for Anglophone visitors, what I often find is that asking permission to speak English goes a long way. Instead of merely opening your mouth with a flurry of English, on peut commencer avec "Est-ce que je puis vous parler en anglais?" and the shopkeeper will usually respond, "Of course." Similarly a friend and I were in a resto and I was mumbling along in French with the proprietor when I remembered that my friend was anglophone only. So I told the man, "à vrai dire, nous sommes anglophones" and we went to English. Pas de problème.
You identified a real problem and that is a Francophone going to a Federal office in Calgary should expect someone in the office to be fluent in French. Similarly, an Anglophone going to a Federal office in Québec City should expect someone to speak English. It's the private sector where it all falls apart. I was at an ice cream shop on McGill College Avenue years ago and I asked for something in my poor French. The young man behind the counter was a McGill student who spoke no French at all. That's sad.
אבער עס איז מאָנטרעאַל, אַזוי עס איז אַלע גוט.
@@argonwheatbelly637 Quelle merveilleuse réponse! Todah rabah. Le Yiddish était la langue maternelle de ma mère.
Merci for the video! You released it on the best time. Thanks. I'm an immigrant from a Spanish speaking country who came to Winnipeg some years ago. Started my life here, found a job, and met my gf (another immigrant whose first language is french), and we are thinking about moving to Montreal as well this year. I already went through the process of learning English to survive, and here I go again, to new begginings but this time in French... the learning never ends 😅
I'm in (almost) the same language boat. As a Spanish speaker you have bit of a head start with French. Bon chance!
Let's go Luis! You can do it! On compte sur toi! ;-)
I am Latino living in Winnipeg, and I am planning to do the same thing too this year lol
@bibbidibobbidiboo6191 Seems like Montreal is getting famous in the Latino community 😅
@@LuisMedina-gl8pi it is. Anything is more interesting than Winnipeg 😿
I've been curious about Montreal (from the US) for the loooooooooongest time. No one has really explained it because the articles online are more like ... new stories and stuff. So I feel like finally I know what I wanted! To understand the feel of being there. Thanks
@@BumFightsVol5 LOL.
Bonjour! Je viens de Nouvelle Zelande et je ne parle francais. I really respect the effort Montreal and Quebec is making to keep its culture, and I would love to learn French (at least to a passable level). I am moving to Canada in June for a summer camp and then I will be visiting Montreal and I would actually like to live there. Your videos are really informative for someone like myself so thank you for making them!
Bienvenue. It is a very friendly city.
the fact that you started the conversation in french, even if you ask to switch to english, is really all that we expect.
how has montreal been treating you
While it is true that there were a lot of english speaking immigrants in Montreal at that time we could also say that immigration was actively used to assimilate the French and this strategy was successful in other parts of the country like the Atlantic Provinces or Manitoba where French was also forbidden in schools across the Province. We could say that Québec did not want to join Canada but New-France was called Canada and the habitants were called Canadiens so some people would say Canada is a french country with an English majority.
It's a bit as if in 50 years from now British Columbia became predominantly Chinese and Chinese the language of society and then laws are passed by the Chinese majority to make Chinese the only official language...and they gradually bring more people from the homeland to colonize the prairies and eventually Canada is considered a Chinese speaking culture and the Chinese are complaining that having services for the minority english speaking cost money.
Enfin someone who gets it.... c'est ça Montréal dans sa complexité. Excellent vidéo...job well done!
Très bon vidéo ! Thank you for this sensible explanations.
Visited Montreal for the first time this past Spring - my french is incredibly intermediate and my listening skills are awful but there were a lot of times where people sincerely appreciated that I started the interaction in French even when they had to switch to English for me to understand. It's weird - you never want to waste anyone's time if they speak English better than you speak French, but at the same time it's important to make the effort.
Merci beaucoup. I don't live in Montréal, I don't often come across non french speakers but I can totally understand the feeling. Just start the conversation with an Excusez-moi and I'm all ears.
Amen! tu as tout compris!! Un petit effort c'est tout ce qu'on demande! ✌✨
Wow, I learned so much about Canada from this video. I never thought about the Quebec citizens and their culture that they need to protect. It’s much more than just a different spoken language.
I'm originally from the US and learned French on my own in my 40's living in Montréal since 2016. It's possible to learn French on one's own, though people here would switch to English all the time as I was learning and still do. I just tell them, in French, that I'm from some non-anglophone country (currently Moldova) and can't speak French. I work as a music teacher in both languages. My students are of Cameroonian, Haitian, Greek, French, Lebanese, Moroccan, Ghanaian, Ukrainian, Armenian, etc. heritages. It's great. I still work hard at learning French. I didn't take the francisation courses because I couldn't work it around my schedule. There's always something to improve. I read Flaubert. I learned a few Jean Leloup songs. Used online websites, Assimil, lived primarily with francophones, and am super têtu. By the way, French speaking Acadian culture does still exist in Louisiana.
Wow Jean Leloup, he's the best ! If this guy sang in English, he could have been a superstar. Its like or own little secret treasure and only us Québécois and those who love our culture can get to appreciate his music !Félicitation pour vos efforts d'epprendre le Français québécois.
best video of the language situation in Canada I've ever seen. Awesome job!
Louisiana French speakers are NOT gone. The language here is endangered but not yet gone completely. You did us a real injustice by saying that. We are actually in the midst of a grass roots cultural and linguistic revival. I'm happy to be a part of that here in beautiful Acadiana.
I'd say 7% is a pretty small number.
My mistake. I haven't been to Louisiana, and you're right, I spoke without doing any research on that point. Thank you for the correction.
@@TheNewTravel you're not fully wrong. There are no unilingual French speakers there, and not to mention, most people who do speak it are elderly. It was not passed down to younger generations. You would be damned to find someone who is more comfortable in French than English anywhere in Louisiana. Not all the French speakers there are dead, but in 60 years, French will be nothing but a part of Louisiana history
@mohammedgharbiyah6566 Not if I have anything to do about it. My ancestor came directly from France to New France in 1780 and I was raised by my grandparents in a rural area where French is still widely in use. I was raised in both French and English and subsequently spent 6 years as a Cryptologic Linguist in the US Navy. We have a wonderful movement of determined and capable people working to preserve what is left of our dialect and fill the gaps with standard French. The French government is also heavily invested and has several permanent ambassadors stationed in Acadiana to help spear head these efforts. "You'd be damned to find" Guess you're damned because you just found one lol.
@TheNewTravel No worries, I didn't mean to chastise you. You made a great video! It is a common misconception that French in the state is dead and gone. Lafayette, Louisiana especially has become a hub for French in Louisiana and is the last bastion of speakers. Yet it is often overlooked. Our language was forcibly removed from schools at the detriment of our grandparents' and great grandparents' education. These impacts still affect education in Louisiana today.
9:13 [...] I think all this historical context I just mentioned makes it so a lot of French Canadians are overly hostile towards individuals who might be making an effort to actually integrate into Quebec [...]
Sorry to hear that it’s your experience in Montréal. Maybe I’m wrong, and you must know more than me about that, but I think it’s the other way around. A lot of French Canadians are grateful to individuals who are making an effort to actually integrate into Quebec and will help and encourage them to learn Québécois French and integrate Québec culture. That is mostly the reality I live in, in the very English-speaking and multicultural Notre-Dame-de-Grâce where I live and at work, where, as a technology company, we hire people from around the world to work in our head office in Montréal.
What most French Canadians don’t like is people who don’t give a sh*t about where they choose to live. Worst, I know some people born in Montréal that don’t give a sh*t either. I mean, not at all! Frankly, I think that’s them who missed the most, but it’s their choice.
Hello Dan. First to mention, kudoos to you. You have a beautiful and respectfull openness of mind and you're curious of the world around you. For that, I thank you and welcome you in Québec and in Montréal. As someone who grew up in a bilingual family, both langages used equally, in the province of Québec, funny enough, if I go to a store and the clerk or the employee steaks only English, it irritates me. If that said person tries to speak French, whatever her level, I will encourage her. You see, all anglophones born in Québec learn French at school the same way all francophones in Québec learn English at school. When you work let's say at the supermarket and you're 16 or 20 or 30 years old and you won't answer to me in French... it's infuriating because that person doesn't make the effort. So the key would be, if someone comes here as a tourist, welcome and au revoir. If they comes here to stay, at least TRY to learn a bit of French. Only fair, wouldn't you say?
Very interesting video. You made good points and a great analysis of the situation.
Je suis Québécois, and you explained the situation really well. Thank you for your kind take on this. Cheers.
Have said it before... Montreal and Mexico City are the two greatest international cities in North America! French and Spanish skills are valuable for both cities.
The Anglo guy watching a french speakers losing their language : Bilingualism. Wow, this is so cool.
Very informative, thanks!
Thanks for given very valuable information
as a francophone from Montreal, it is inconceivable to be served in a language other than French, if I go to Ontario or even BC, of course I will adapt and speak in English, but an anglophone can live without problem in Montreal simply because we speak several languages, for my part
Good video! As a québécoise, what we want is not for everyone to be perfectly fluent in French we are always happy when we see someone make an effort to speak our beautiful langage. The thing is that French is declining and a lot of people don’t make any efforts to save it. The other time I went to the store near my city and the employees only served the customers in English! We just want others to respect our culture like we (at least most of us) try to do, when I travel in Canada I always speak English because this is the langage they speak, that is why I expect them to try.
There are much more stores with the employees and speak only french. Please get out of your privileged bubble. I'm sure it didn't stand out to you cuz it was the language of your comfort. But there are much more occurrences of only French than there are of only english, so you have no right to complain. Pay attention to the oppressive laws that the French government has tried to put on us the last few years, and you tell me how fair that is. If you can't be honest about that, there's no conversation to be had.
I had the same dream when I was younger. A couple days ago, I had to react to a racist anglophone and that he didn't deserve to sing Ô Canada because it was created in Québec in 1880 and accepted ɓy canadian Parliament just only 100 years later (1980). We didn't only create poutine.
Great vid!!
I'm a Québécois born in rural Quebec. You're 100% right from the beginning to the end. Personally, I never make a scene when I hear English in Quebec because you don't know the situation of the person. The person might be a tourist or might be trying to learn French but feels uncomfortable. As long as someone is willing to learn French, I think they should be welcomed to live there. Unfortunately, there's a small minority of colonialists who think they can impose English in Quebec and I absolutely despise these people. But there's also a minority of Quebecers who are racist/anglophobes who will hate anyone who has an accent. Most of them are boomers and don't live in Montreal anyway. Montreal is a very welcoming and diverse city. Living there as a unilingual anglophone can be done, but you won't make a lot of friends and you'll be confined to the island, because once outside of the island of Montreal, you start finding much more unilingual francophones and it's much more homogeneous.
Me (a francophone from Mtl) : So when you'll move to France, you'll actually have to learn French, you know!
Acquaintance (an anglophone from Mtl) :Well, yeah, duh, it's France, they speak French.
Me: Yeah but you've lived here your whole life. Why didn't you learn French?
Acquaintance: I mean, it's Canada, we speak both languages...
Me: So if a French person moved to Toronto, they could just... Live in French?
Acquaintance: Eeeesh that's bound to be difficult.
Me: But it's Canada, we speak both languages.
Acquaintance: ...
Yeah, this is why we tend to be hostile towards English speakers. They tend not to even *try* and/or not realize this very real double standard.
this is honesty the reason i’m gonna learn french when moving to😅montreal. 1) to work. 2) because I saw there was a double standard and double standards don’t make sense
@@laurel7135 if you want help with your french, I could totally help out. And if you don't know anyone in the city, I'm here :)
Exactement! Moi, c'est le double standard qui m'énerve. L'argument du "On est un pays bilingue" ne tient pas la route dans la réalité. Ce n'est qu'une façon que certains anglos ont trouvé pour ne pas faire l'effort d'apprendre le français.
Aussi: je comprends qu'il y a plein de communautés linguistiques, plus ou moins nombreuses, à Montréal. Les gens parlent la langue qu'ils veulent en famille, avec les amis, en public ou en privé. On s'en fout. Mais la seule langue officielle est le français. Aborder quelqu'un dans la rue en anglais, ou aller dans un commerce et s'attendre/exiger un service en anglais, c'est un profond manque de respect. La langue commune de cette société est le français. Je trouve ça condescendant d'aborder quelqu'un en anglais sans même lui demander si la personne parle la langue.
There's no excuse for the hostility, and my experience has been very different. Almost every anglophone I know is bilingual. We chose to learn French because we realized from a very young age how important it would be. Regardless, I've been called an "esti d'anglaise," asked which country I come from, and had my French mocked because I used the masculine instead of feminine form of a word. Even when we try, it's never enough for some people. Have you ever considered that your hostility might turn people away from wanting to learn French?
@@KRL1999 100% not trying to be hostile! It just gets SO frustrating that most anglophones french level is NOWHERE near francophones level of English (how many Francos are at Dawson/Vanier and how many Anglos are in french cegeps?). This may be something that's changed with younger generations. If so, great, we all win knowing more languages!
I come from a place of having parents who worked for Molson and didn't have the right to speak French at work. It's not... That long ago. A lot of that gets kinda dismissed.
Maybe that explains the hostility, which, again, isn't the intention. It's frustration. And sometimes anger comes out clumsily. But I would never mock someone who's trying.
Je crois que ce qui fâche beaucoup de Québécois, c’est que certains anglophones se sentent « entitled » de parler et de recevoir des services en anglais en toute circonstance. Je comprend très bien l’anglais mais le parler est plus difficile et demande des efforts. Je vis dans une région où il y a très peu d’anglophones. Je travaille dans le domaine de la santé et je trouve parfois frustrant d’avoir des patients anglophones qui ne veulent/peuvent pas parler français et qui sont visiblement irrités par la qualité de mon anglais… Je n’espère pas que chaque canadien devienne bilingue, mais qu’il y ait un respect mutuel et une reconnaissance mutuelle. Je crois que seulement débuter par « Désolé je ne parle pas français, est ce que ce serait possible de parler anglais » ou bien finir par « merci pour vos efforts » serait grandement apprécié.
Je ne crois pas qu’un francophone pourrait avoir la même attitude pour recevoir des services en français dans une autre province et qu’il faut juste reconnaître les efforts de chacun.
cest du colonialisme canada style
Good job, ce vidéo est perfect!
That’s a cool bottle-art on the wall! ❤✌🏾
Really love your videos, keep them coming.
About French and English, I started my oil career back in 2005 in a French company, lived in Paris for sometime (hotels only), and never learned French. And now living in Montréal since 2020, I still get away with my English. However I am seriously considering taking French lessons.
Exactement! I have so much respect for canadians that are as aware as you are of the cultural reality of Québec and Montréal. Merci! Bonne vie à Mtl!
I am French speaking. I would have a lot to say but I try to be brief (and very frank). The majority of francophone Quebecers, including myself, are afraid of being assimilated and losing our culture. Statistically it is very possible. The English language is so powerful in North America and in the world. In short, we love English Canadians but we are different. 😊 You will always (often) be well received here. But we like it when English speakers make an effort to speak French. 🫶It doesn't have to be perfect. But unfortunately too often in Montreal newcomers think they have immigrated to Canada so they only speak English and don't force themselves to speak a little French. If an English speaker speaks a few words in French we give him the moon. If he just says "I dont speak French" (I will never speak your language and I despise you), then we are threatened and you will have no friendship from us. 😟
La phrase I don't speak French signifie réellement: ''I DON'T WANT to speak French''. J'avais en 2022 un immeuble de 26 logements à vendre. Le premier acheteur intéressé était un Juif hassidique d'Outremont. Quand je l'ai rencontré il était fier de me dire en anglais qu'il trouvait merveilleux de pouvoir vivre uniquement en anglais à Montréal. Pas de Bonjour avec un accent anglais, pas le fait de se sentir mal de savoir qu'il devrait connaitre un minimum de français. Rien. J'ai fait un beau sourire mais je ne lui ai pas vendu. Il y a des limites à faire la carpette pour de l'argent.
Give him the moon.. this statement , like tue video , is incredibly innacurate
"afraid of being assimilated and losing our culture"
just like how the indigenous and natives assimilated and lost their culture to you ?
@@alial-nuaemi7409 assimilating to Anglo custom is the worst it could happen
@@ericktwelve11 You did not answer the question, you act like you are the natives to Quebec, you are not, and pretty much just like any other immigrant came to Canada throughout its history, you are no difference than them to be given a special status of language and so called "culture", coming as a settler colonizer who kills millions of indigenous people does not make you owner of the land to ask for preservation of your language against "The English Colonizers" if anything should be preserved and revived is the Native Languages and Culture, which you killed. Otherwise use the International Language of Communication aka English.
You’re such a beautiful soul:) I enjoyed this video a lot. I spent a weekend In Montreal and loved it
Thanks you !!!❤🎉
Major problem with your first sentence post-ad : "Québec didn't agree to become Canadians in the first place"... Québec (the St-Lawrence river valley) and it's french inhabitants ARE the original Canadiens. The english just usurped that identity 150 years after the conquest. We developped the Québécois identity as a reaction to that.
It is easier being an English speaker in Montreal than a French speaker in Toronto ( or Halifax, or Vancouver, or Calgary, or....).
Great video 👍😎
You got it right! Tu as très bien compris! Cool video! Thanks.
A tip for people who want to visit or move to Quebec. Don't just start speaking in English, learn this phrase "est-ce que ça vous dérange si je vous parle en anglais." it's a polite way to say "is it alright if I speak in English".
Yes please do that! It changes everything!
and whats that gonna change? If i cant speak their language ima use english
@@vmrre8267 it is called empathy, you do present yourself with the acknowledge that in Quebec it is more 'french' and it is just polite. try to smile at the same time, it won't hurt.
no.
@@vmrre8267It's too hard to be polite?
salutttt j'apprends le français pour visiter Montréal, j'adore tes vidéos!!
this is a great video
Very nice video, I went to Montreal for a field trip my school board did for international students and I loved it.
Montreal aside, I’d love to see more of your vinyl journey on your other channel which is where I first saw you!
Thanks Manays! I've bought a bunch of records since making that video. You're right, an update would be interesting - I'll try to find time for that :)
As someone who lived in Canada for many years I can honestly say that while Quebec is officially and politically part of Canada, its really a different country inside Canada, for me Quebecois people is a different nationality, they are so different, I lived in Alberta and Quebecois people felt as foreign as me (I am Mexican) and their English was really poor, so it was really funny to see these white Quebecois people having issues communicating in their own country, while I a Mexican guy felt more comfortable linguistically, also personality wise the French Canadian are totally different
It's another proof of how culture can exist even when there is no more traditional dances or foods such as in Québec. You say the personality is different. How would you describe it?
@@fs400ion they're not that different tbh. But if you want to know the stereotypes you can watch the movie bon cop bad cop. :)
@@thomaswest4033 I Méan it's still North American, but due to the language barrier Québécois are clearly distinct from the other English speaking North Americans. They are culturally closer to other Latin languages since they are not anglosaxons
@@fs400ion c'est vrai mais, mais je pense pas que c'est une bonne example d'un différence d'esprit. Aussitôt je veux pas dire que les Québécois n'ont pas une culture unique; mais que les différences entre les Québécois et le ROC son un peu exagéré.
"Dans notre pays, mettre les deux langues sur le même pied équivaut à mettre les deux pieds sur la même langue" Joseph Hanse
I absolutely love Montreal, which I have visited a couple of times. I can't wait to come again. My mother tongue is Spanish but people have often commented that I speak French well enough to be understood. Next time I visit Montreal, I'd love to buy you a beer, Dan.
My wife is English,and we live(15 years) in a small town called Contrecoeur,there is probably no more than a handfull of anglophone in this town,and never,I repeat never as anybody gave her a hard time because she spoke French with a strong accent(originally from Montréal),but I can not say the same when I was on the west coast of Canada.
I was called frog more than once and told to speak white.
I came back home,and I work hard to defend my culture.
Great video! However, I would like to add my perception about living in Montréal as a non-francophone. I settled down here one year ago and since then, I've trying to find for a professional job but, hey, it's almost impossible to get a job without a good level of French. English is my second language and I've been trying to learn French but it's not an easy task. My advice if you're looking to move to Montréal is to get a good level of French so your immersion would be great! If not, you will find it a bit difficult to find a professional job -- You can still keep your routine in English, most of people speaks it.
Great video Dan ! I'm from Montreal born and raised in the Plateau. You're right about how hard it is to describe life in Montreal. I'm really proud of my city. I recognise 90% of the images you show of the streets of MTL just with a glance lol.
It would be nice to have more input from allophones. (I'm guatemalean and chilean). As you said, Montreal has been cosmopolite for decades ! Each community had a deep influence on Montreal that is subtle, but there if you take the time to observe and learn about it. Montreal has so many nice secrets to discover it's crazy.
Did you know that that our french slang that you hear in high schools is mostly creole (haitian). We use a lot of haitian words in Montreal.
If ever you want to interview an OG allophone Montrealer who has a lot of knowledge of the city, holla. I would love to talk to you and show you the city from a different perspective. I'm pretty sure you'd be mindblown😃 (and would be great content). Peace ! Like this comment if you agree. Maybe Dan will notice it and do it !
❤ YES, PLEASE Malade!
@@frankmontague7544 Ça serait vraiment malade !
Fully agree. His videos have yet to showcase the Montreal experience as lived by the various ethnic communities inhabiting this city.
@@ornellaatangana4357 Please SUGGEST STORIES because Montréal has DIVERSITY, synergies and conflicts, that can't happen anywhere else.
@@frankmontague7544
I was thinking more about history stuff like the immigration waves and how each wave affected Montreal culturaly. There is a lot of surprising history for neighborhoods like La petite Italie, Saint-Henri (where Jackie Robinson, the first MLB black player used to go to church when he played baseball for the Montreal Royals), Little Burgundy AKA Burgs (where Oscar Emmanuel Peterson grew up) just to name a few. Also give some insight on daily life for allophones and their struggles. Also, where to get the best food from every culture that food blogs never talk about. Oh yeah and also where are the best barbershops in MTL ;). And talk about the MTL slang and maybe teach a couple of words to people who are new here.
The reason there is still french speaken in Quebec is because that in 1763 the clerics accepted the british rule in exchange to keep their faith and language.
Those were some thoughtful comments. I agree with all of them.
I think you have a large spectrum of people in both «solitudes».
For the quebecois, you can have the one with attitude that wants you to speak french no matter what. On the other hand, you have the one that is soo open (good ol' citizen of the world) that is even willing to drop his native french language in Montréal.
For the anglos, you have the one with attitude that no matter what english was and is the heart and soul of Montreal and will speak only his language in his bubble without knowing anything of quebecois culture. On the other hand you have the one who is so interested in learning french trying to learn it with the quebecois slangs to try to blend in as much as he can (which I think is so great when that happpens).
All those behaviour and attitude makes so really hard to cope with the real situation, wich is the decline of the use of french in Montreal (as recent census form stat can showed). With that being said billingualism is not the solution because it will enhance the reach of english that doesn't need any protection for it's already powerful reach across the globe and north america. The attrition of anglosphere is so big even more than half of young quebecois already speak it (which is great btw). I am a language lover I speak 5 languages but I still feel threatened by the use of «billingualism» in Québec. I think We will find the solution in the seperation of Quebec. It will benifit all montrealers, for example anglo-quebecers already have their rights as a distinct minority and independence will only consolidate even more it's status.
Such a complicated take but when you add the history context it's just much clearer. Québec is already independent moraly and politicaly. It's only missing jurisdictionally, wich is the most important. As a québecois, I will feel more confident hearing english around me in Montréal knowing that we are a nation within the country of Québec.
Être bilingue ou multilingue est une immense richesse et je pense qu'une grande majorité de Québécois le pensent aussi.
Cela dit, la langue commune au Québec doit toujours être le français. Accepter le bilinguisme comme langue commune mènera inévitablement à l'assimilation des français comme partout ailleurs en Amérique.
Comme vous je pense que la seule façon de remédier à l'insécurité des Québécois serait de faire l'indépendance du Québec et j'y travail à tous les jours de ma vie!
I was about to write my own comment, but you already summarized so well everything I wanted to express!
The constant politicization of identity and language in Quebec is toxic and exhausting, but what else are we supposed to do? French is slowly declining in the province according to every metrics. We do have a xenophobia problem in Québec, but it's pretty freaking hard to publicly stoke the required level of conscientiousness about our cultural survival without, at the same time, enabling xenophobia from certain people.
At an individual level, it's easy to walk the fine line between indifference and chauvinism. At a collective level, it's not. Inside the canadian federation, we are structurally forced into either a perpetual defensive posture, or a slow assimilation.
I'm what you could call a nationalist, but I'm also a sovereignist because I don't want Québec to rely on nationalism any longer.
Separation would be a disaster for the anglophone minority in Quebec. They've already had to endure a consistent diminution of their rights since I left Montreal in the late 70's. Unencumbered by being part of a majority English-speaking country would enable the French zealots to eliminate all our rights. Plus, Quebec is so dependent on $transfers from Ontario, Alberta and BC, it could never survive economically as an independent country, especially if Canada blocked its entry into NAFTA.
@@terryomalley1974 A few points.
First, what rights have been eroded? The English minority in Quebec still has more universities and hospitals per capita than any other part of Quebec (and, afaik, any other part of Canada!). It has some of the finest institutions (both public and private). It boasts a standard of living that is superior to the rest of Quebec (up until the 1960s, an English speaking person made, on average, two times the average salary of your French speaking Quebecois - there is still a discrepancy, while less pronounced). English speakers can still go about their day to day lives with the same rights as any other citizen. The only thing is that their children are being made to learn French (just like the children of French speaking Quebecois are made to learn English) to correct a long standing historical issue: a portion of the English speaking population has never wanted to integrate the society they live in. The other "right" is that business are supposed to have a French speaking work environment. Which... isn't really enforced, as any visit to Montreal will tell you. For a population who is fighting for the survival of its culture, these are very timid measures.
Second, no one is advocating for the removal of English speakers rights. I'm not sure if you grew up with some French boogeyman or something, but that's just... not the case. On the other hand, all across Canada, French speaking minorities are losing rights and seeing their institutions closed down in the name of efficiency and cost cutting.
Third, if you think Quebec is "so dependent" on transfers from other provinces, you just do not understand Canada's budget. First, out of 10 provinces and 13 territories, if we include not only the transfers but all manners of federal support, per capita, we are... 8th out of 13. Only Ontario, BC, Alberta and Sask receive less than we do per capita and Ontario only marginally so. Second, when the price of oil soared several years ago, Alberta was up in arms that it'd have to give so much money to the rest of Canada (and especially the villainous Quebec, funny how they never complain about the other 8 provinces/territories who receive some, even though the Maritimes receive on average more than twice what we receive per capita), good man Harper introduced... a cap. Somehow, I don't think that if Quebec was to get rich from the exploitation of one natural or another, there'd be a cap introduced on how much money we would have to contribute. Even though we did bail Alberta out of bankruptcy back in the 30s to 50s. If we factor in a lot of "double services" that are done by the provincial government in Quebec but by the federal government in other provinces and that we, from Quebec, keep financing through our federal taxes, the portrait is much, much different. This "if Quebec was independent, its economy would crash" is just a myth perpetuated to keep Quebec's population in check.
Fourth, while NAFTA is a mistake in itself, Canada wouldn't block Quebec's entry into it. It's just a no-brainer that you don't shoot yourself in the foot.
Perhaps we should talk about how Canada loves to present itself as this bilingual country but the only place where it is truly so is in Montreal and parts of New Brunswick? Or that Quebec is, by far, in a league of its own as the most bilingual province?
@@MrLuchenkov This is very rich coming from someone with a Russian surname! Why don’t you look up Bill 96??? I am an anglophone born in Montreal. I am from the English working class. I was educated in English with some pretty awful french instruction thrown in as an afterthought. I am quite fluent in french by now but I will never be as comfortable as those delightful bilingual people who switch back and forth so easily. I have never been in an economic position to feel free to move out of Quebec. Moving out is for people who are very well educated or materially well off. The wealthy Anglophones of Quebec left many years ago. It is my opinion that if we were all educated in both languages here from the start that french would be still VERY secure AND the minority anglophones would be comfortable as well. However that has never been the true purpose of the « quiet revolution ». The purpose has been to get the most anglophones to depart as possible. Also, insisting that Quebecers speak only french insures that Quebec politicians have a captive francophone population. As I stated previously, it is difficult to move out of province if you are not professionally, financially and in this case linguistically mobile.
The history of English in this province has been wiped out whenever possible. Yes, we are assured that we can have healthcare in English, but now we cannot have our justice in English! Without justice, what do you have? Nothing!
My turning point has been Bill 96 and the absolutely ignorant and rude treatment I have received at the hands of too many bigoted young francophones within the last year. I am not going to die in Quebec with someone still haranguing me as I lay in a hospital bed to speak french.
You're one ballsy Anglo-Canadian for explaining both sides of perpectives. This was a very interesting blog from me as a watcher who is non-Canadian. Thanks for the Honesty!✨👍 #MerciBeaucoup #JadoreMontreal
En même temps, les Montréalais sont trop rapides à changer pour l'anglais dès qu'une personne a un accent anglophone ou étranger. J'avais une amie anglo (Ontarienne) et elle me disait comment elle avait envie d'apprendre le français (elle a même choisi d'habiter dans un arrondissement francophone pour être entourée de français tout le temps), mais dès qu'elle s'essayait de parler français, on lui répondait en anglais systématiquement, sans qu'elle l'ait demandé. Quand c'est rendu que les allophones doivent se battre pour qu'on leur parle en français, il y a un problème. Il faudrait que les francos cessent d'accommoder trop facilement les anglos. C'est juste trop facile pour un anglo de vivre sa vie en anglais et les francos sont complices de ça. C'est comme si certains francos avaient honte de ne pas parler anglais. Moi, c'est rendu que si une personne inconnue m'aborde en anglais, je répond systématiquement en français tant que la personne n'a pas le respect de me demander si je parle anglais. Sorry not sorry. Vous devriez essayer. C'est un exercice fascinant. Les gens ont toute sortes de réactions: Incompréhension, colère, condescendance, malaise... 😂 Pourquoi je devrais me mettre inconfortable à parler un langue qui n'est pas la mienne ni celle de la société où je vis, alors que mon interlocuteur n'accepte pas que je lui renvoie la pareille? Again: Sorry not sorry.
I jumped in this video ready to put the boxing gloves on, but your understanding of the situation is quite correct. The only caviat is that english people in montreal still have quite a hold on french people, especially in financial instution. The money gap is real, even nowadays, and I speak from witnessing it myself, working in that environment. Dans tous les cas, bravo d'avoir démontrer cette ouverture et de donner cette perspective!
Holaa Dan! I really like your videos, I'm from Mexico, I live in a city near the US border, I speak Spanish and English (not perfect), and I understand French and Italian, because it's similar to Spanish. I love USA, I think it is a very beautiful country, but when I go there it is the same sad situation, they judge us for not speaking their language (english), for me languages are something beautiful and we should not feel bad for not understanding them all. 💗 We must always respect our diversity!. I really want to visit Canada. maybe someday. Saludos!!
Same feeling. Saludos desde San Luis Potosí 🇲🇽
Thanks for this video. It's nice to listen to something other than the usual Quebec bashing. I like your video because it is balanced. No society is perfect and you describe the flaws of this society. On a personal basis, my partner is a unilingual anglo living in Quebec and she loves it as she gets the best of both world and can go around her business without speaking French because.... everybody...no...I should say, most people are so accomodating and switch easily to English. What is annoying to a lot of Quebecers is the lack of effort.....and once in a while I get annoyed with my partner because I wish she would make some effort to learn French.
I’m a NYer living here and I love speaking & hearing Fran-glish
As a french speaking Montréalais, this is a very thankful video. You explained very well the situation in Québec and why us (french Québecois) we are so protective and defensive with french. We are the last stand of french speaking in a English continent, plus english is the common language in the world. Zachary Richard, french singer from Louisiana, always said to the french Canadian to keep are guard up, because the french language and culture can be vanished in 2 generations, like they did in US with Louisiana. You have really the good approach, knowing some local language to be respectful is always well received everywhere (except Paris, but that’s another topic😅). Us the french Québecois we have to let the poeple speak french when they try instead if switching to english. I hear that complaint many time by english speaking buddies. It is true how we feel about bilingual in the country, we know and slso experienced that outside Québec it is not true you can live with speaking only french. We basically not buying it that the country is bilingual and felt unfair when we talk about the situation of English speakers in Québec versus french speakers in the other provinces, you have very well described our feelings… I agree with you, we Canadians, should be more bilingual and share each other lsnguage and culture, therés beauty on both side. I can understand that it is easier for english speakers to just speak English and expected that the others will speak it, but knowing another languages open you to another wotld and another culture. Thanks again for this honest and not bias video.
My paternal grandmother was from Farham, Quebec, and would only speak French with all her relatives though she could speak English as well. She married my Dad's father, an American, and lived in Nashua, New Hampshire, initially after getting married. Oddly, though, she never raised my dad bilingual and only spoke English in their home raising him. I asked my dad why he never was taught French when it was the natural thing to do having an American father and a French Canadian mother and he never had a good answer for it. I wish I could have had this language passed down to me.
That's how things die so easily. My grandmother grew up in rural Cape Breton (depression era) and spoke Scottish Gaelic with her parents and siblings and most of the families in her area were the same too. After WW2 many of her generation married and moved around the Maritimes, Canada, and New England and it was never passed down to their boomer children (and millenial grandchildren) so it mostly died off in only two generations through increased mobility and faster technological communications. It just simply wasn't practical for her to teach her 8 kids a language they could never use in school or work so she didn't bother. Thankfully the school system is teaching Gaelic as the 2nd language requirement back home, ironically in place of French, so perhaps in another generation it'll make a small revival.
@@calvinbaII It's unintentional, but the school board is limiting the future of Cape Breton children. Federal law reserves many leadership positions for E-F bilinguals. For example, Supreme Court justices must be bilingual. Other positions such as CEO of crown corporations, Prime Minister, and Leader of the Senate are by custom limited to bilinguals. Mary Simon, the Governor General, doesn't speak French and would have been doomed except for the fact that she's First Nations and speaks a tribal language in addition to English.
@@Jon.Morimoto Mary Simon is learning French. Also, many crown corporations CEO only speak English and just give lip service to French, see the PR disaster with Air Canada CEO Michael Rousseau when he publicly said that Montreal is a great city because he didn't need French.
Interesting video. I lived in New Brunswick for a year and a half from late 2021 to beginning of 2023. New Brunswick is the only officially bilingual spot you can find in Canada, and it's the one place where you can feel fine trying to learn french, but falling back on english if you're struggling with your learning curve. Some other interesting stuff to note, is that Quebec has the best schooling system in the country, when it comes to languages. Basically all the young kids coming out of quebec are billingual these days, and they prioritize their second language (english) very heavily in school, whereas english provinces do not do the inverse (we do not prioritize french in our school systems, and it's a bit sad; I think we'd have a richer culture in Canada if we did). Anyways, I got the euro-vibes too from living in Edmundston, where I heard french around me all day. It reminded me of when I used to live in Belgium. I've only had positive experiences with quebec residents, and definitely feel where they are coming from in terms of wanting to preserve their language and culture. If you want to learn french, and you're reading this comment, and you're another anglo-canadian like me (let's stop saying british, gross, we all speak english but this is 2023 and almost none of us are british, just anglo-speaking, but yeah, if you're anglo like me), just go to New Brunswick! Move to Quebec after you pick up french and you're ready! Choose nb first, it's a completely reasonable option, and you'll be surrounded by french if you pick the right spots! Anyways, love you NB and QC, miss you guys! -much love, from an ontario bro
I've always asked my self that question even googled it many times and came up with nothing..😂😂 thanks for the video
Nice to see you in Morocco, a country I always wanted to visit but didn't because I only speak English. All of the Moroccans I've met in European hostels over the years I've liked and felt an attraction to. Seems to be some chemistry there. Hope you're having a good time.
Interesting my friend is moving there from England
English speakers must know life doesn't revolve around them . SPEAK French and Spanish . English is just a work language.
I totally agree with you. Anglophones ask francophones to speak English. I ask anglophones to speak Chinese and they are annoyed.
🤣
😂
My position is: "English is a national language. Esperanto is an international language."
Really enjoyed the video! You nailed it when speaking about the perspective of the Québécois. My total respect goes towards anglophones who show interest in understanding both perspectives despite our scary nationalist tendencies, lol.
On a personal, level, I'm glad I can speak both languages, and I believe there has to be a way of promoting our culture without having to think of the English language as the 'enemy'. In addition, I think we should show as much passion for the preservation of the native languages, as they were spoken here before the European languages. Peace!
At the pace French speaking women bare children, the French language will be mostly gone within 50 years. It’s just pure mathematics. Thanks for sharing, Montréal is awesome.
Bilinguism is not real in Canada and never have been. It was a political strategy adopted to fight Quebec nationalism. But it does not represent the reality. That’s why there is so much resistance. Being served in French in Ottawa is quite an adventure. And I understand westerners to be frustrated about bilingualism.
Great video, and take on Quebec and Montréal
Thanks Hassell!
I also feel like we (french canadians, québécois) are really insecure about our culture. The only thing we are certain about is the language and I feel like it is why we value it so much.
Vous devriez en être très fiers! Je suis un immigrant des Etats-Unis et je très fier de mon pays adoptif. Vous êtes unique en Amérique.
For me, it's a mix of pride and shame. I'm proud of my ancestry and heritage and privileged to have had two languages around me growing up. But it's extremely hard to feel proud of a people who've never fully accepted me because my parents made the choice to send me to an English school and gave me an English name. There's a huge conflict.
J’ai toujours eu beaucoup d’admiration et de sympathie envers les cousins Québécois qui savent, bien plus que nous Français de France, protéger leur culture et leur langue. Ce qui est exaspérant avec les anglophones, d’où qu’ils viennent, c’est qu’ils vous abordent presque tous en anglais dans un pays de langue Française, ou d’un autre pays d’Europe où d’ailleurs, sans penser un instant que, peut-être, on ne sera pas confortable pour parler anglais… c’est une attitude condescendante qui m’exaspère.
Learning a language is learning a culture: it's impossible to access the full experience of a culture without mixing with the locals... and what better way to do so than learning a few usefull sentences! BUT, us, Québécois, must also learn to not automatically switch in English when someone wants to practice his or her French, eventhough we've been molded to do so as soon as we hear the typical "R" from the English speakers. It's an effort that is beneficial for both parts, I think...
I feel like most French people speak English and most English don’t speak French . It’s sad seeing I would love to speak French but I’m in Ontario and our French classes are a joke and no one speaks French…
Montréal is my favorite city to visit and most beautiful city in the world in my eyes! Growing up and still living to this day in Northern NY, I go there quote often. Many of my ancestors (French and Irish) before me came from Québec to the USA. I never learned French and my grandmother was the last one in my family to speak the language due to the French laws in the states. So the language never passed to my mother and her siblings down to my generation. Every time I go to Montréal it feels like home. However, because I don’t speak the language I know I’d never be embraced by the French and I wouldn’t be able to live there cause I would be unemployable
I like your overly simplified resume on the trials and tribulations of Québec vs the rest of English north america. Hopefully the "out of province Anglos" find it in their hearts to recognize the reasoning of our policies. It sucks that you have met some of "those" that are judgmental. I have seen a huge difference from when I was a child until now and we have become quite a bit more tolerant 😊. As the hate/resentment of previous generations disappear into the night only the younger generations can rectify our previous stubbornness. Happy to see that you have been bettering your french; considering you haven't been always here. I don't know if you're still with your GF but I remember seeing that she was on the path also. Keep your videos coming. They might be few but the content is quite appreciated 👍. Good or bad is one part of it but the experience is what is important. Thanks 🙏
In Switzerland, which is almost 40 times smaller than Quebec, but with about the some population (8.5 Mio.), we have four official languages, although actually only three of them are spoken by a relevant number of people (German or better Swiss-German: 62%, French: 23%, Italian: 8%). In Geneva or Lausanne French is the main language, in Zurich, Berne and Basle it’s German, in Lugano it’s Italian. So if you move from one part of the country to another and you cross the language border, you have to learn the other language - or reactivate, what you once learned at school. But there are also some smaller cities on the language border, that are bilingual (German/French) as Biel/Bienne or Fribourg/Freiburg. In Biel/Bienne, where the majority speaks German, but many people are bilingual, streets signs and other information are written in both languages and in shops or restaurants, staff will mostly switch the language, depending on what language the customer speaks. In Fribourg/Freiburg this is not so much the case, as the vast majority speaks French and they refuse to speak German.
I was born here. My family has been here for centuries. Half of my family is even french.
I love living alongside the French. Keyword being, alongside**. Not beneath. Not above.
3 centuries ? Before 1723 ? 😂 Not even sure that presence of yours goes before 1823 😉
@@jandron94 thank you for being an example of a shitty french Quebecois 👍
Half of my family is French 😉😉
The other half came in the early 1800’s.
My family has always been here lol
Canada's bilingual not in the sense that English and French are simultaneously spoken/available everywhere, but that you get to live in it speaking your preferred language with the caveat that you'll have to choose Quebec / Not Quebec accordingly. And also that the federal government will communicate with you in either language.
As far as I'm concerned, anyone who demands that Quebec become more English is being unreasonable. Why? Because there already are _nine_ English-speaking provinces to choose from if English is so important to you, and only one French-speaking. I have a hard time believing that person couldn't find _any_ city to his liking from the vast entirety of English Canada but instead chose to pick on Montreal.
Voila beaucoup de sagesse et de bon sens ! French immersion classes are very popular across Canada so the will to learn French is there. The problem is once they leave the school, they never get to use French anywhere because in everyday life Canada never uses French. Everyone who has learned French will forget it for the lack of using it unless they come live in Quebec which is the only true place in NA where one can really live a life in French. I dont think this will ever change so a Bilingual Canada is a pipe dream.
I agree wholeheartedly with this video, I am from the west but I moved to Québec. And frl, the ammount of ppl who make off hand comments severely outweighs the family, friends, neighbors, hell even strangers who support me learning their language and at least trying to learn it even if I suck at first lol.
There are "Karens" everywhere. If they were not triggered by people speaking in English it would be for something else. They like to get in everyone's business in any city.
As long as people are trying to learn or are not just hating on French (As you can see online a lot) it's all good.
Great video talking about your experiences in Montreal! I think it’s great that you’ve picked up French as well as it’s a money skill to have not just in Canada but many other countries. I must say though, if I were given the task to solve the linguistic dilemma, I’d just make everyone (English and French Canadians) learn both languages from the beginning like how in Sweden everyone learns English and Swedish since they were infants, that way there will be no more communication issues
The thing people from outside of Québec don't give a "F" about learning French and they don't want to have to do anything with it. We have to learn English since elementary school in Québec tho...
It's a view of the mind! Being bilingual for French Canadians is a transitional step towards unilingualism in English. In Sweden you don't have an English speaking community in the country. When two languages coexist together, the stronger assimilates the other. It is because French-speaking Quebecers were unilingual that they were not assimilated, thanks to the Catholic Church. I lived in Brussels in Belgium which is officially bilingual but it was always the Dutch speakers who spoke to French speakers in French and not the other way around. In addition, French Canadians, despite their speech, do not really care about their language as soon as they know how to speak English they abandon the French language. In Montreal it's shameful to be francophones, francophones are second class citizens in Canada. So anglophones in Montreal only speak French when they have to because it's shameful to practice this language of N*****.
@@Ptitnain2 I’m from Toronto and I learned French since grade 4. French is a mandatory subject across most school boards in Ontario
@@thomasharter8161 I don't know anyone that doesn't care about French though. I'm a french canadian and the vast majority of people I know live and work in French. Anecdotally, it's mostly allophone or anglophone students I met in Montreal that don't have families that speak french that abandon french and later work in english and live in english circles. But as I said, it's only anecdotes, it's possibly not representative.
Precisely. Since 1977, gov't of Quebec has enacted Bill 101 to make French only official language in Quebec. Result: number of French speaking has been reducing every year. If they had used hose almost 50 years spending their energy working with federal govt and provinces to make schools bilingual in Canada since kindergarten, very likely today they could travel the whole country communicating n French everywhere.
I dont know man, when I get to montreal I'll try to speak french only. It is a beautiful thing
No it's not
I feel Quebec has every right to protect its own language and culture. But some could be kinder when it comes to the outsiders.
Maybe an outsider perspective from a brit currently living in France:
I always ask people the question; would you expect to be able to live in Paris or anywhere in France without speaking a word of french? No, you wouldn’t. Of course, France does not have so much english influence but montreal is a francophone city and people should respect that. I don’t think anyone should move to Montreal without at least making a VERY strong effort to learn french asap but also i do think the Canadian government could do a lot more to promote french outside Quebec and also remind the rest of the world that they are a bilingual nation. A big part of the appeal of Montreal is the french language and culture. Us anglos definitely have a very specific mindset that is bolstered by the fact that yes, everyone learns english.
However, french is a difficult language and it can be very elitist. Many francophones have a very high opinion of their language and do not make learning it a welcoming or fun experience (to the point where RC Info has done reports talking about this).
I visited Montreal and the linguistic soup that has essentially developed there is very beautiful in its own way, but i think more should be done to keep it francophone at it’s base level. You can find hundreds of languages in toronto but english is the lingua franca. if we find hundreds of languages in montreal, french should remain the lingua franca
Hey Dan ! First, I wanted to say that I love your work. I just arrived two weeks ago from France, and I have the feeling that it’s the other way around. I feel like it’s harder to live in Montreal if you don’t speak English than if you don’t speak French ( because almost all the Québécois in Montreal seem to be fluent in English). So, this month I’ve been doing a lot of English course because I’m afraid my level in english is not going to be good enough and I put a lot of pressure on myself to improve my english as fast as I can.
I’m here to find a job as a waiter, so I guess I don’t need to be completely fluent in English, but I know that I will not find a job downtown or in the west of the Island. Maybe i’m too hard on myself cause I know that my english is not that bad and I really like the language. It’s just that i’m not used to speak it…
Hey man, moving from Vancouver in a week. My French isn't great, i'm going to have to take some courses when I arrive and immerse myself. I'm also going to be looking for work as a bartender, but I'll probably have to start off as a barback or something. I recommend you do this too and work your way up once your English is better. p.s your english seems great! Lemme know how you get on there
Accents can be a beautiful way to start a discussion if that's what you're afraid of. You'll lose it eventually :)
You don't need to worry. With Bill 96 it's now against the law not to hire you if you only speak French.
@@Sarahintheforest784 I didn't realize that, glad it works both ways
Avant d'émettre des opinions commence par défaire tes valises. Tu dis n'importe quoi!
its fun being a foreigner living in Montrea, it is fun and intriguing seeing the Quebecois making others learn french just to talk to them. The lady in my office cafeteria wont serve me if i dont speak atleast one new sentence in french to her.
Might sound aggressive, but it's good for you and for everyone in Quebec if we want to stay cohesive.
@@OdinWannaBe hey I have no complaints... I respect local lands heritage and culture
14:03 Haha, sweet. That would be considered normal for a lot of people in Europe, at least in major cities. In Geneva where I live, it's very common to hang out with people and hear 2 or 3 or even more languages spoken at the same time. Of course, English remains the main language everyone understands.
Great video and a lot of the comments here highlight the complexity that is Quebec. There are a group of people in La Belle Provence who want you to speak French but when French immersion speakers open their mouths, they're spoken to in English: guess the immersion speaker's accent isn't Quebecois enough. Don't get me started about on the Hatians, Moroccans, Congolese etc whose mother tongue is French but still face discrimination. Having said that, Montreal is my favourite city in Canada (dare I say the world) and the province of Quebec is a beautifully, annoying, magical, and complicated place.
As a french canadian, living in Montreal, I don't think I could've explain it better!
Although, I would add, regarding the situation with the older woman in the paint store, that older people are a little bit more on the defensive with English speakers. Historically, English canadian have been oppressif until late in the 20th century towards the French communities. My grandparents were told to speak white (English) and were discriminated because they were speaking French. So their generation tends to have more animosity towards English speakers in Québec.
It's important to note that I don't excuse anything here, I just try to put things into the context of their generational strugles.
The thing I don't agree with the attitude of certain French speaking people towards our fellow Canadians, is some of them act exactly the same way they were treated younger by the English speaking part of Canada. I understand they are scared to loose our culture, but I think there are better ways to go about it. I think we should embrace bilinguism more, everywhere in Canada. And I think Québec should lead by example instead of being defensive.
(I lack a little bit of vocabulary in English and I feel I don't write exactly what I would like to write - complicated thoughts, simple words. So sorry if I don't make sense!)
yea most young people have like no clue to what extent the oppression was, which is sad !
Until the second half of the 20th century (not long ago, my parents lived thru this), the Francophone of Québec workers lived below the poverty line. Francophones did not join the executive ranks of the businesses of their own province and were not allowed higher education !
Political activist and singer Félix Leclerc wrote: "Our people are the waterboys of their own country."
Duplessis's death in 1959, quickly followed by the sudden death of his successor Paul Sauvé, triggered the end of the Grande Noirceur and Duplessis Orphans (they were forcing mostly French and Native (poor) children into psych wards for English government funding and selling all our resources to foreigners , the Quiet Revolution finally begun. (well quiet till the 70 s where FLQ (Front de libération du Québec a Marxist-Leninist and Quebec separatist guerrilla group) started kidnapping, bombing and killing the English and British! but that's another story ! )
Appelons-nous nous-mêmes Québécois(e)s plutôt que Canadien-français.