Don't go to Montreal. Go to another city with happy, friendly people who speak English and with whom you will have a good vacation. The majority of Quebecois do not like English or Anglophones. They have language police who enforce French as the primary language for shop signs or any signs. The laughable thing is that they speak french execrably! Their pronuncation will make you squirm. They have spent the last 40 years trying to break away from Canada and they are still trying. They were beaten on the Plains of Quebec in the 18th century and have not gotten over it yet! Their car licence plates say "Je me souviens"!
They will not let you speak French to them - not even to order from a French menu! Their weather is the worst. You get your balls frozen off in the winter and bitten off in the summer (by bugs which crawl up your long trouser legs). I have never felt so blah about any city as I did in Montreal. It did nothing whatsoever for me. What a bunch of sore losers. Don't waste your hard earned money or precious vacation time.
These comments are among the most biased, inaccurate, narrow-minded and silly remarks I have ever read about Montreal. As an Anglophone Quebecer, I find Montreal to be a cheerful, open, receptive and welcoming place where persons of many cultures and language groups conspire happily to celebrate Montreal's bilingual past and to create its city-of-the-world future. I encourage Monsieur NotAFan to stop whining and to see Montreal for what it is and to join the party.
Don't listen to this quack. Montreal is known as one of the greatest cities in the world for a reason. People here are only mean to you if you act mean first. I'm an anglophone who happily moved here last year, and I haven't looked back. Yes, the culture shock is harsh at first, but the language issue really isn't a problem. You can get by with no French (my partner speaks none), but if you do speak the language, people are generally very happy to help you express yourself, even if your French isn't perfect.
This is shit. I have several English-speaking friends who speak little or no French who have never been insulted here. Send your feedback or queries to been.there@guardian.co.uk
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