Do You Need FRENCH to live in MONTRÉAL?

Oh hey, YouTube. So in today's video, I'm going to be speaking about my experience as an English speaker living in Montreal, and I'm going to try to answer the question that a lot of people ask me, which is, do you need to speak French to live in Montreal? I've got a lot to say about this one, so let's go. By the way, the other title for this video is going to be the fastest way to get in an argument in a bar in Montreal. This is a topic that a lot of people like to argue about. Quebec, as a province, has been kind of arguing about languages for, I would say, well over a hundred years. This is just my take as an outsider who is new here. At the end of this video, I'm going to demonstrate my level of French, so if you're curious to know about that, wait till the end. So I'm a bit scared about that, but yeah, I'll do my best. But before that, I want to say a few things. First of all, it goes without saying that the more you learn the local language, the more your experience will open up. You'll have access to experiences that you wouldn't be able to have without that language. Make no mistake, in Quebec, the official language is French. It gets confusing because Montreal is often called a bilingual city, which it is, in that there's a lot of English speakers here, but you're still in the province of Quebec, which means that the government's official communication is in French, there's a lot of language laws about the signs, like even Starbucks is called Café Starbucks, KFC isn't KFC, it's like, what is it, PFC? Poulet? No, that's not it. What is it? Yeah, here we go. In Quebec, Canada, KFC is called PFK, that's it, Poulet Frites Kentucky. French for Kentucky Fried Chicken, that's interesting, whereas in France, it is still called KFC. And as an English speaker, like when you first arrive, it can be a bit overwhelming, like you feel almost as though there's just a sort of external force that is telling you like French is first, English is second. Canada has two official languages, English and French, but in reality, it's not that way. I grew up in Winnipeg, in the center of Canada, and there are French areas in Winnipeg, but outside those little areas, like most people don't really speak French. Outside of Quebec, with a few exceptions, there's not that much French being spoken. In fact, if you get all the way to the West Coast, like when I lived in Vancouver, you're never going to hear it. The French settlers didn't make it out there, and most of the French tourists go to Quebec or go to Ottawa, so you're just not hearing French on the streets of Vancouver. But you are hearing a lot of English here on the streets of Montreal, which is why I think the politicians in Quebec get a bit defensive about their language because they feel as though if they don't defend it, if they don't do something, it will just disappear. I gotta admit, like as an English speaker, I didn't fully understand that perspective until I moved here, but now that I actually live here and I've seen the experience here, I understand it because it's not really fair for someone who grew up in Quebec to be told they have to learn English and be good at English to get a job. Like this is their home. This is where they have lived, where their parents and their grandparents and their great-grandparents have lived, and when I heard Quebec described as like the last French-speaking area in all of North America, like surrounded by a sea of English, I started to think like, you know what, now I get it. Now I get why they're putting like Cafe Starbucks and trying to put French into more and more places. The second major point I wanted to make is that the west of Montreal is much more English-speaking. For example, there's an area called Westmount where the majority of people speak English. There's an area called Verdun that has a lot of English speakers, and even downtown, like you hear, I would say almost 50-50. You hear a lot of English, a lot of French, but then you move to the area I'm in, which is called Le Plateau, and Plateau is very French-speaking. So you do hear some English on the streets, but when you live here, you should learn French because you're moving to the French part of a city where French is the number one language. So I feel like more pressure to learn French living in Plateau than I would out in Westmount, and I think that's a good thing because, I don't know, I don't want to just live in a bubble and feel like I'm not worthy to leave that area and go to another area. What's a bubble boy? He lives in a bubble! Boy! But yeah, the last point I want to make before I show you guys what my level of French is like, I just want to answer the question directly and say that no, you don't need French to live in Montreal. You don't need it before, but in my opinion, you should be actively working on, if not always improving it, at least maintaining a passable level. If someone comes up to you on the street and wants to know, excuse me sir, do you know where is Saint-Denis Street? You should be able to say, oui, c'est là-bas, or désolé, je ne sais pas, je ne sais pas, you know. I'm showing that I don't sound like a local even as I say that, but at least I can understand it. There have been very few occasions when I feel like an outsider for speaking English. It's just sometimes in my head, like sometimes where I'm at a bar and everyone speaks French and then the waiter comes over and I try to speak French and they're like, do you need the English menu? I make myself feel like an outsider sometimes. Then again, I lived in Mexico City and when I moved there, I barely spoke any Spanish and I just worked on it and worked on it and tried to pick up some local phrases. It was the same when I lived in South Korea and I was an English teacher, I knew one word when I got there. I knew 안녕하세요, 안녕하세요, that's the word for hello, and I practiced it on the airplane ride to Korea, like literally I knew nothing. But as long as you keep a good attitude and you smile and you try to be polite about it, it's not going to cause any problems. When you get problems is when you get someone who's being arrogant and just says like, why don't they speak English here? What is your problem? It's like, no, you got to realize it's not their problem, it's your problem. So just be aware of that, keep a good attitude. If you do have a run in with something that kind of makes an awkward encounter, just try to brush it off, unless they're being openly racist or rude to you, there is a limit to I'm not going to let someone tell me I shouldn't be in Quebec because it's not my language. To be honest, most of those comments are only online, I've never actually met someone who feels that way. My friends in Montreal don't think that way. In fact, the friends I've made here are some of the most open-minded people I've met. This is a very liberal and accepting place, and I see immigrants from all different cultures living here, make an active effort to get to at least a passable level. And if you want to get a good job here, you might need to be fluent. But that will come over time, you know, like, don't worry too much about studying the textbooks because that can only get you so far. If you want to really excel, you need to speak with other people. Okay, are you guys ready for my little French attempt? Okay, let's see what I can do. Hi, my name is David, I live here in Montreal, and I want to practice French. In fact, for practice, I like to watch videos on YouTube, there's a channel called Rad, and it's the little educational videos on life in Quebec, and it's very interesting, and it's also a good practice to listen to French. In the ideal situation, I would speak with a lot of new friends who can speak French with me, but now with the pandemic, it's a bit difficult to meet new friends and do social activities. So, in the month of April, when I'm on lockdown, I almost didn't leave the house, and I think my level of French, how do you say, you diminish, you go down. Okay, that's good for today. So yeah, that's it, that's my French level, I've been living in Montreal for a year, and I'm actively trying to improve. By the way, if anyone who is watching this speaks French, and you have some YouTube channels to recommend me, let me know, I'm always looking for new channels, new ways to improve. Anyway guys, as always, I'm Dan from The New Travel, let me know if you agree with my thoughts, let me know if you passionately disagree because this English speaker from Winnipeg does not know what he's talking about, I'm sure I'll have at least one of those comments. But yeah, those are my thoughts. Oh yeah, I literally had to unplug my refrigerator because it was making so much noise as I filmed this video, so don't forget to leave a like and share this video for me, spoiling all the food in my fridge. I hope it was worth it. It probably wasn't. À la prochaine mes amis. Peace.