MS
working in montreal
Moderators: sky's the limit, sepia, Sulako, North Shore
working in montreal
Hey guys, what is it like to work in Montreal? I've only been there once-last year doing an audit which was there and back in one day, not leaving company premises. I don't know much if any French so that is the thing I'm worried about. Is it required to know French to live there, or will I be able to get by in the city and at work knowing English only?? Just saw a posting at exeltech so that's why I'm asking. Thanks for any info. Oh if anyone knows any pros/cons about exeltech feel free to share experiences
MS
MS
Re: working in montreal
Hi,
Don't know about exeltech but I assure you it is possible to live your whole life in Montreal without knowing much french. I'm not saying it's the greatest way to experience life in montreal but hey, thousands of people manage it all the time.
The area around the airport is mostly english speaking anyway. (english comes right before arabic and then french)
In Montreal, if ten people are talking and one of them doesn't speak french, usually all revert to english. I dare say it wasn't so for me when I had to go live in Ontario. On the other hand, I got to learn english real fast. You might experience the opposite.
YUL is a pretty cool place to live. Lots of things to do, friendly people, screwed-up income tax reports; try it!
Salut, bonne chance,
Tonio
Don't know about exeltech but I assure you it is possible to live your whole life in Montreal without knowing much french. I'm not saying it's the greatest way to experience life in montreal but hey, thousands of people manage it all the time.
The area around the airport is mostly english speaking anyway. (english comes right before arabic and then french)
In Montreal, if ten people are talking and one of them doesn't speak french, usually all revert to english. I dare say it wasn't so for me when I had to go live in Ontario. On the other hand, I got to learn english real fast. You might experience the opposite.
YUL is a pretty cool place to live. Lots of things to do, friendly people, screwed-up income tax reports; try it!
Salut, bonne chance,
Tonio
Re: working in montreal
Thanks, that's just the type of info I was looking for!
MS
MS
Re: working in montreal
In order for that to happen you'll need to make sure it is clear with whoever you're conversing with that you want to practice your French.RDC01 wrote:In Montreal, if ten people are talking and one of them doesn't speak french, usually all revert to english. I dare say it wasn't so for me when I had to go live in Ontario. On the other hand, I got to learn english real fast. You might experience the opposite.
Another tip would be to listen to French radio. You've read correctly, radio, because you actually need to listen for it to mean something whereas with television you'll get most of the information from what you see. I would emphasize talk-heavy stations like Radio-Canada Première Chaîne (95.1) and 98.5 Le FM parlé de Montréal (which belongs to Corus).
Also, the public education system likely has French as a second language courses you can take at little or no cost.
À la prochaine,
Louis
