where do native montreal anglophones work? (transfer, schools, college)
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From my research on this site, 15-20% of the population of Montreal are anglophone. However when people describe working conditions in Montreal, it seems if you are not fluent in French you are not getting a job.
Where do all these native Anglophones work, how do they support families if there are no jobs open to them? Homes on the West Island (where a lot of anglophones live) seem pretty nice.
I understand most of the jobs will be in French, but wondering how could there not be any decent jobs for people who speak english as their first language if there is a good sized population of them living there. Are they all working low-paying, dead-end jobs?
This is an English forum so the bolded comment above is one that you'll often see directed to people who'd like to move to Montreal, i.e. people who know English and are wondering whether they really need to learn French. If you asked the same thing on a French forum you might actually get the opposite reply -- if you are not fluent in English you are not getting a job either.
Montreal is a bilingual city. Almost all those Anglos living in nice West Island homes speak English AND at least some French -- I think the proper way to rephrase what you read often is "if you're not bilingual to some degree, you're not getting a job". In casual settings, many young people will actually switch from French to English in the same sentence. That's just how that city works.
Thank you. This is exactly what I was trying to convey when saying not fluent. I guess my definition of fluent is different than others. If I moved to Montreal (seriously considering it, gf is quebecker) then I would most definitely take classes to improve my french.
Just wondering about my ability to gain employment after I improved my french as much as possible in a year (able to hold conversation, but a native speaker would know immediately my grasp of the language).
Then obviously would come the small detail of finding a job...
Get your girlfriend to start teaching you now if she's Quebecois. She'll probably totally dig the two of you working together with a common goal like this. After a few weeks try to have a night where you only speak French to each other.
You could probably have a good grasp of it before you even move, and you'll have the confidence to speak French knowing that you make mistakes (which seems to be the biggest barrier for most people to learn a new language).
Don't worry that you aren't perfect. It is very unlikely you ever will be, but if you're adequate and aren't looking for advanced work in a technical field or as someone whose job revolves around language skills (writer or newsreader) you don't have to be perfect (or even all that close to it) to be employable.
Another easy way to pick some French up can be had when watching DVD movies. Many DVDs in North America have English-French-Spanish audio and/or subtitles. You can watch the occasional movie in French with English subtitles, or in English with French subtitles, or whatever mix you want. Any way you do it, it gives you exposure to the language you want to learn.
I'm an anglophone who has recently moved to Montreal and from my experience (depending on your industry obviously) having a competent level of french is a must. The provincial govnt passed a bill (bill 101 I think) in the 90's that every consumer has the right to demand service in french and if it can't be provided then that service provider can be punished in some way. So employers are (in my experience) pretty sticky on french competency.
Some tips I've found useful to pick the language up: children's french books (audio if possible) are great for getting some vocab going; reading things like archie comics etc out loud; watching french movies with english subtitles (associate sound with meaning) but then re-watching with french subtitles once your vocab improves (associating written words with sounds); listening to french CBC - they have very good french speakers who speak very clearly and relatively slowly; Google translate is a great tool for improving both your writing and also conversational language if you type things in english and then practice saying it in french. I've found this has really helped me (although time consuming) with french syntax because it's pretty different from English syntax.
that figure (15 %) would be for the whole province of Quebec. its more like 40 % for the island of Montreal
The city proper of Montreal is 15-20% anglo. The island of Montreal (city proper plus immediate suburbs) is about 25% anglo. And then if you include the entire metro with outer suburbs Greater Montreal is about 15% anglo. The province of Quebec as a whole is about 8% anglo.
I'm an anglophone who has recently moved to Montreal and from my experience (depending on your industry obviously) having a competent level of french is a must. The provincial govnt passed a bill (bill 101 I think) in the 90's that every consumer has the right to demand service in french and if it can't be provided then that service provider can be punished in some way. So employers are (in my experience) pretty sticky on french competency.
Great tips by the way, but a small clarification -- bill 101 was passed in 1977.
Every native English-speaker from Quebec is ABLE to speak French. The only anglophones who don't speak a word French are those who are really old and retired and little kids who haven't had the chance to learn yet. EVERYONE who is a native English-speaker who is originally from Quebec speaks French even if it is broken French
Do you mean that EVERY native English speaker from Quebec is able to speak ONE WORD of French? You could say that about almost the population of the globe, if the word is say, "soufle" or "non". I know English speakers in Quebec who ARE NOT able to speak French, even broken French. They know some words but can not create any kind of sentence. One has a learning disability which may contribute to an inability to process a new language and thus, never learned French.
A handyman I use has told me he doesn't speak ANY French and doesn't intend to learn. He's an older man but not retired and makes his own business in areas he is comfortable working in.
Westmount, of course. Most Anglos can speak or understand French enough to get by.
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