How are english speaking foreigners treated in Montreal?

Question

I have heard that the French speaking Canadians are resentful toward English speaking foreigners, and I will be living there in Montreal for about 2 years so I am a little concerned as to whether me and my family will be treated fairly at public places like restaurants and supermarkets etc..

Answer 1

I am anglophone (but I speak French too) and live in Montreal.  The great majority of people in Montreal are bilingual.  I have rarely encountered someone in central MTL who couldn't speak any English.  

Where you will find difficulty is if you regularly put forth no effort to read or speak French.  People in hospitality (restaurants etc) will almost always switch immediately to English if they realize you barely speak French.

My advice is to learn some basic French and politely use it!!!  There are free classes here if you look for them, and there are also tons of places to pay for classes.  Be aware that french in quebec is not the same as French you will learn in a class outside of canada; that is standard parisian french and the accent is quite different.

Outside of Montreal, in rural areas of Quebec, there are many people who barely speak English, if at all.  Here I have encountered some unpleasant attitudes if I have gone into a store or something speaking in English with a friend.  It is easy to diffuse this by speaking whatever French you know, and telling them you're not from Canada but you're learning French.  Suddenly, your efforts are *appreciated*... the problem isn't with peolpe who speak English, it is with people who don't bother to learn french in a french province.

That said, there are some neighborhoods that are better for Anglos than others.  The West-Island has many heavily English areas.  Westmount and Hampstead, both kind of upper-class areas, both have a large portion of English speakers.  NDG (notre dame de grace) is a very English neighborhood, despite its very French name.  St-Henri is a neighborhood on the up and up, and there are many English speakers there.  Downtown is a huge mix of people from all over the world but you will hear a LOT of English and many people who work downtown are English.  The Plateau is very bilingual.

A general guideline is that the city is somewhat split by St-Laurent (a street running from south to North) also called "The Main."  Neighborhoods west of St-Laurent get progressively more English; neighborhoods east get progressively more French.

Start practicing your French.  All packages are labelled bilingually.  If you are courteous, respectful, and make a good attempt at French, you will rarely encounter hostility.  Do know that no matter how much good and balanced information we all give you, there are still people here who DO resent anglophones.  I have witnessed some really unfortunate displays of this.  But as a whole, it's not bad!

Good luck and enjoy your time here

Answer 2

Just make sure you buy a house or rent a house in and english suburb.  "Go west young man" is not just a quote from a movie!!  Move as far west of the island of Montreal as you can get i.e. Kirkland, Pierrefonds, better yet  Hudson, or St. Lazare, and you wont have any problems.  We used to live in Laval but moved because my kids kept getting picked on because they were "les anglais"  (the english).  I'm serious like another poster said GO WEST!!

Answer 3

as long as you make it clear that you're NOT english Canadian (ie, from Toronto), they should respect you.  Learning French is useless in Montreal, as people here are really s****. about their crappy accent, and will be very condescending to you if you try to speak French.

Answer 4

They're treated fine. I'm bilingual (I'm from montreal) but they're all over Montreal. Everywhere you go there are Americans all over the place. They're friendly :)

Answer 5

Gee buddy, relax!

It ain't that bad!

Is that why you were asking about gun ownership and gun permits earlier?!?

To eventually use against us French Canadians?

There's really no need - I can assure you!

Yeah, we're gonna stone you and your family for sure!

Answer 6

Most Quebecers speak English and are usually polite and attempt to help you out.  However, if you attempt to learn even the most limited French and use it they will appreciate your efforts and will gradly come to your rescue.  Some however, can be down right rude so ignore them and try and enjoy you stay.

Answer 7

I moved to Montreal over 8 years ago and I speak English.  Downtown is mostly in English because the businesses make money from tourists.  Westmount is predominately English as is Pointe Claire and D.D.O.  Emergency services are bilingual and there are many culture groups (Little Italy and China Town) that have their predominate language areas as well.  I'm sure  you will have a wonderful time here!  Welcome Aboard!

Answer 8

No, not to worry, I live in Montreal and am English.

English people are treated fairly, the same as any other culture, there is little to no discrimination.

How it works, The East End Of montreal is French and the West end Of montreal is English, I live in the Suburb of Cote-St-Luc in the West end, perhaps you should move here because of the fact that it is predominantely english.