Montreal without French??

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Goldista

I laboured under the popular myth that the citizens of Montreal would only respond if one communicated in French. However; to my great delight , when we visited this very beautiful and cultural city in summer, in spite of my British accent, we were overwhelmed by the hospitality and kindness shown to us.

When I attempted to practise my very average French, the Montrealers delighted to answer in English! !!!!!

RAR24

I don't speak French and have never been given a hard time the many times I've been there. They are extremely friendly to Americans.

bendermarcus

In downtown Montreal, Old Montreal, and even the Plateau (all nice areas to visit), most people will speak English with tourists.

Now, if you have an obvious British or Australian accent, they'll love it when you just say "merci" and "s'il vous plait".

If you have a Canadian accent, learning 2 key phrases would be nice like: "Je ne parles pas le Francais." and "Je suis ici pour pratiquer le francais." (I don't speak French and I'm here to practice.)

Don't say: "Voulez-vous coucher avec moi, ce soir." It's stupid and tacky. And trust me, it doesn't work.

Good rule of thumb is: If you make an effort, they will respect that and you will get good service. If you are a dick-head, you will get treated like a dick-head.

Have fun!

babarox1998

Like in any other city, it depend of where you are in the city. If you make the effort to learn basic phrases and you don't make fun of people who trying to answer you in bad english, you will do great.
Lots of people, like you, don't like to try to respond in another language because they don't want to be making fun of; if someone is unable to respond to you, say it's ok and find someone else. Don't give the impression that someone is an idiot because he don't speak your language. Respect is the key word.

mike s

Montreal is a great city. Just go. You don't need to know french to have a wonderful time, but if you know a few words, and start trying to speaking french, Montreal is no longer a great city it becomes fantastic.

tokala

I was in Montreal last week, and don't worry, people speak english as well as french. Sometimes they even speak both languages at the same time !

Delphine F

about %50 of Montrealers speak english as a first language, and lots of frenchies also speak english. If you want to learn a bit of french before you go, get the following computer program. It's the best, as far as I know
http://www.rosettastone.com/en/individuals/languages/french
try the free online demo

Lisa

Most everybody is bi-lingual but many won't admit it until you give courtesy to tell them (in fractured French) you don't speak it.

Practice the following:

"En anglais, s'il vous plait; ma francaise est tres mauvais"

and you'll get considerate (in English) service.

J' K '06

wear a montral hockey cap n they will love you

St N

Mad or cool aren't the adjectives involved here. The public will ignore you and smaller shop keepers may do the same. The bigger business's will probably speak to you in English but they might not be all that helpful. Wearing a Canadien's hat will not be all that useful. What will be most helpful will be to try and learn a bit of French before you get there. Enough to say thank you, please, understand the numbers so that you will know the price and order a meal other than at MacDonalds. Hopefully you have the time to do this. Don't worry about accent. If you make the effort, they will meet your effort.

Bonne chance

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