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These comments are depressing, more and more outsiders who are completely ignorant of the vitality of the English community.(even locals, as it seems)
What many don't comprehend is that due to North American influence and the fact of being a member of the majority within the entirety of Canada,Our fate is much less integrable and we've developed our own isolated culture as well. one fifth of the greater Montreal area speaks English predominantly at home and a decent amount of them live in municipalities with higher than average anglophone populations.
Sadly plenty have been brainwashed by assimilable means by thinking otherwise
Living in Brossard,a town with a 19% Anglophone minority representation I've known a fair share of uni-lingual anglophones, not many at all. The majority are employed in retail in which the outlet they work at houses a majority of fellow English speaking residents. There's always been a slight overall misrepresentation in the public sector due to a higher concentration in places that are more English friendly than others.
My father,born and raised in Montreal is uni-lingual, but luckily he's found himself a stable job at an Multinational corporation downtown in which practically all of his co-workers are either Anglophones or Allophones.
Being an Anglophone, I take such accusations to heart. Montreal is Indeed the most personally bilingual city in Canada, I for one believe its only logical and beneficial for Montreal to become officially bilingual. Theirs no reasonable explanation for a cosmopolitan world-class city to reflect the bigoted policies of the rest of Quebec.
Why does it have to become officially bilingual.
It's been operating bilingual ages without any issue.
Why does it have to become officially bilingual.
It's been operating bilingual ages without any issue.
I doubt there will be any movement towards official bilingualism for Montreal.
If anything you'll likely see a strengthening of French as the operational language of the metro area, with English maintaining a decent but secondary presence.
Why does it have to become officially bilingual.
It's been operating bilingual ages without any issue.
Montreal is not officially a bilingual city, French is the city's official language and is the language spoken at home by 56.9% of the population of the city, followed by English at 18.6% and 19.8% other languages (in the 2006 census)
An interesting read on the changes in Montreal from a long term Anglo perspective.= http://ranmblings.blogspot.ca/2015/0...ench-city.html
Montreal is not officially a bilingual city, French is the city's official language and is the language spoken at home by 56.9% of the population of the city, followed by English at 18.6% and 19.8% other languages (in the 2006 census)
An interesting read on the changes in Montreal from a long term Anglo perspective.= Random Essays on Life: Montreal is a French city
A lot of this is bull****. I hear STM employees speaking English all the time. And I only communicate with Hydro-Quebec in English. Their English-language website is great. Same with the SAAQ.
Why does it have to become officially bilingual.
It's been operating bilingual ages without any issue.
This was an older post of mine, I no longer possess the same view. I am content the way it is. The status of Anglophones in Montreal is that of a significant minority and I have no issues with that.
Another factor I see in the future of Montreal is that I expect francophone immigration to ramp up significantly in the coming years. Under the Canada-Quebec agreement on immigration, Canada selects immigrants for family reunion immigration (people already here who can bring their family members), in addition to accepting refugees, and Quebec chooses independent immigrants - basically the first person in a family to come.
Since the deal was made in the 80s, this has generally led to a 50-50 split between Quebec-selected and Ottawa-selected immigrants. However, the family reunion immigration stream is winding down. So the latest stats I saw had Quebec picked 61% and Ottawa picking 39%. Quebec-picked immigrants tend to be more French-oriented than the ones picked by Ottawa.
Add to this factor the fact that France's economy is in turmoil (especially difficult for its young people, and it's also increasingly fussy about immigration) and a continued demographic boom in places like francophone Africa, and Montreal is on the cusp of becoming a major demographic crossroads of the francophonie. It kind of already feels like that sometimes already.
A lot of this is bull****. I hear STM employees speaking English all the time. And I only communicate with Hydro-Quebec in English. Their English-language website is great. Same with the SAAQ.
What are you referring to as BS as the stats are copied and pasted from a government website and no one is implying that no one speaks English in Quebec.You seem to be replying to a viewpoint that was never inferred.. \
To continue,these employees speaking to you in English are doing you a courtesy as they arent required to speak to you in anything but French.
What are you referring to as BS as the stats are copied and pasted from a government website and no one is implying that no one speaks English in Quebec.You seem to be replying to a viewpoint that was never inferred.. \
To continue,these employees speaking to you in English are doing you a courtesy as they arent required to speak to you in anything but French.
From the article:
Quote:
Originally Posted by article
One thing that hasn't changed, and never will, is that bus and Metro workers are Francophone. They will not provide assistance to you in English. They will simply say "Je ne parle pas Anglais". In fact, a few years ago there was a joke going around that there would be signs in the metro saying that if you couldn't speak French you'd have to walk instead.
This is not about stats. This is BS, through and through.
This is not about stats. This is BS, through and through.
I'll agree he may have embellished that minor inference in his blog but the fact remains the public transit workers are under no obligation to speak to you in English and if they do its a courtesy not a given,same goes for all public sector workers in Quebec and many a public sector employee likes to flaunt this law=
particularly transit workers. Controversial sign posted in STM ticket booth | CTV Montreal News..
Yeah, yeah, yeah...I have been to government offices where they have little signs that say "En Quebec, on parle francais" as well. She didn't speak English until she saw my American passport
That happens. But a) that is not representative of the Quebecois as a whole, and b) I don't get offended by it anyway. Obviously, you do. Which I have a hard time understanding, to be honest. You are free to speak whatever language you want at home. As long as you *can* speak French (which you should be able to do if you want to live here), then you shouldn't have too much trouble. I, as someone who only now is starting to have passable French, got a graduate degree here, and now have a good job here, without needing any French at all. I play a lot of tennis, which means I have to call to reserve courts...sometimes I do it in French (it's a struggle, but I get through it), but whenever I speak English, I'm responded to courteously. This morning my girlfriend and I went to brunch in Hochelaga...they gave us an English menu and were very nice to us. Sure, the sign outside had to be in French...so what?
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