<p>I hardly know any french, how would that affect my experience at mcgill?</p>
<p>It won't really at McGill. Now, in Montreal, you won't get as much out of it as someone who speaks a little French, and you'll run into a handful of Pequistes who hate to speaking English and will be rude to you, but otherwise you'll be fine.</p>
<p>redknight is right -- You would get along fine in Montreal. But you could also think of it as an opportunity to learn some French. It's pretty marvelous to be in a bilingual city.</p>
<p>what about in terms of education? would not knowing french impede me in anyway at mcgill? </p>
<p>do most people at mcgill speak english? or french? like if you were to walk down a hall, would you hear french or english?</p>
<p>you'd prolly hear both... iono, i have a friend who's on her last year there and she said that she never had to speak french. and the primary language of instruction there is english, so yea.</p>
<p>McGill's Linguistic Situation</p>
<p>McGill, while it is an Anglophone institution, has a substantial Francophone minority (about 20% of the student population). They have substantial rights guaranteed to them, such as the ability to write exams and papers in French, and are fairly active on campus. However, the University itself is still a bastion of the Anglophone community.</p>
<p>In short, McGill is English, and not knowing any French won't really impede you academically or otherwise on campus. Off campus, though, is a different story; and, quite frankly, one that is rapidly changing. </p>
<p>Linguistic Demographics in the Greater Montreal Area
Montreal's downtown core (particularly in the McGill/Concordia/Dawson area, as well as all of Westmount), is completely bilingual, and you won't have any problems using English. However, as you tend to move further away from Downtown into the surrounding areas (like Point-Saint-Charles, Little Burgandy and Verdun in the South; and Saint-Laurent, Ahuntsic, Rosemont in the North), you tend to start hearing more French and English.</p>
<p>With regards to areas outside the central portion of the Island of Montreal, the West Island, going from Senneville on the western tip to the town of Mount Royal, are all almost entirely Anglophone. The eastern portion of the island, going from Saint-Leonard to Riviere-des-Praries is likewise almost entirely Francophone. Laval and the north shore are all Francophone with the exception of the portion of Laval directly across from Montreal, which has some Anglophone residents. Longueuil and the South Shore are also mainly Francophone. </p>
<p>Culture</p>
<p>Most Montrealers are bilingual, and if worse comes to worse, you should be able to get around in English combined with hand signals. </p>
<p>However, most Montrealers still live in French, and this is quite evident in daily life. More people on the Metro read La Presse than The Gazette, shop clerks will talk by default in French, if you have friends outside the McGill community, there is a greater chance they'll ask if you watched Tout le monde en parle last night rather than if you watched Royal Canadian Air Farce, and so on. Thus, like redknight said, you will probably enjoy your time in Montreal more if you learn some French. </p>
<p>Changes on the Political Scene With Regards to Language</p>
<p>Right now, Montreal, and Quebec in general, is entering another period of heightened political and linguistic tensions. </p>
<p>There is probably going to be a Provincial election in the next few weeks; and if the Parti Quebecois emerges victorious, a referendum within the next few months. This by itself will result in heightened linguistic tensions.</p>
<p>However, even barring the election, the level of linguistic tensions in Quebec is rising, IMO. This can be seen in the little things that are starting to occur (Esso deciding not to change the name of its depanneurs to an English one, and from the larger ones (er..click here</a>).</p>
<p>Add on to this the debate on "reasonable accommodations" (google "Affaire Herouxville") for cultural, ethnic, and linguistic minorities in Quebec, and you can tell that the linguistic status quo will probably begin to change over the next several years. </p>
<p>How to learn French</p>
<p>Like momfromme said, Montreal does offer you a great opprtunity to learn French. There are such a myriad of ways of to do it:</p>
<p>[ul]
[li]"Assmiliation" Method - You learn French just by living in Montreal and living in French. This doesn't really tend to be a good method, IMO, since Montreal is a bilingual city - unless you have great resolve to learn French, it's a bit too easy to fall back on relying on the English language institutions.[/li][li]McGill - McGill does offer</a> courses in French as a second language. They're quite good, I think; and of course, since you're already a student, you can easily sign up for them. [/li][li]Community Organizations - The Montreal</a> YMCA comes to mind for me here. They're located relatively close to McGill (Stanley St., Metro Peel) and offer courses in French; plus, you also get free gym membership.[/li][li]Adult Education - Many local school boards (in Central Montreal, this is the CSDM</a>) offer night classes in French as a second language. They're pretty cheap compared to the other options (I think CSDM's courses are around $11 a semester); and a good option if you have classes during the day.[/li][/ul]</p>
<p>Anyway, I think I covered everything, if you have any questions, feel free to ask :-).</p>
<p>glendalais89: I give you a solid A for that post!! Seriously, your post should have a sticky or a be a FAQ. This question gets asked so often and you nailed it. I learned a few things--thanks.</p>
<p>Yeah, great post. Thanks for your help!</p>
<p>Are there language requirements for first year students? </p>
<p>Such as do I HAVE to take a 1st year language course? Im more into the sciences.</p>
<p>If you're starting at the U1 level (coming from a Quebec CEGEP or transferring from another University), I think that you only have to take the courses that your major requires to graduate. </p>
<p>For U0 students (the rest of us), I think that it really depends on your programme. You can check the requirements for the B.Sc Freshman programme here:</p>
<p>Their language courses policy (listed here</a>) you can take a language course if you want to as part of your mandatory 30 credits, but you don't have to (you can take extra science courses instead)</p>
<p>
[quote]
There is probably going to be a Provincial election in the next few weeks; and if the Parti Quebecois emerges victorious, a referendum within the next few months. This by itself will result in heightened linguistic tensions.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Don't expect a referendum soon given a PQ victory. Boisclair isn't as eager as Parizeau was to do this again.</p>
<p>Glendalais, do you think a referendum would pass? I doubt Quebecois really like Stephen Harper very much, since he's so very conservative (and unlike Chretien, not from Quebec). If Gilles Duceppe loses a leg, would it pass? </p>
<p>Not to diminish Lucien Bouchards illness, but it was an awfully convenient time to lose a leg, God forbid anyone should every have to.</p>
<p>not the same question as blitz's.. but could anyone tell me about the french program at mcgill? or maybe the french teacher education program?</p>
<p>i'm interested in majoring in french and think that a french program in the middle of montreal would be a winning combination. i'm not a native speaker though -- is there competition between native speakers and non-native speakers?</p>
<p>Blobuf: If Boisclair wants to stay as leader of the PQ, he will probably call a referendum, I think. Just from talking to my friends in MTL who are members of the PQ, I can tell he's already not very popular among the rank-and-file because of all the gaffes he's made since he became leader (that ridiculous "Brokeback Mountain" skit on Justiciers Masques last November, for example). </p>
<p>Combined with his reluctance to embrace the party's Social Democratic/Socialist ideology (he's already p-offed the labour unions), if he were to become Premier and then abandon the PQ's raison d'etre, there would not be a referendum in the future, but there would certainly be a PQ leadership convention. </p>
<p>In short, Boisclair himself might not be willing to rush into a referendum, but the party that he relies on to keep his job certainly is. </p>
<p>redknight: That's a good question. It's a bit complicated really. </p>
<p>You said that Quebecers might not like Harper because he's so Conservative. However, you have to remember that, until about the 1960s, Quebec was extremely Conservative, and, IMHO, was very much run by the Roman Catholic church (think Duplessis and his relationship with the Church). In many regions of Quebec, particularly outside of Montreal, that feeling of social (if not fiscal) Conservatism still remains, even if it no longer plays a big part in political life. You can tell this from the last election results - half of the 8 Tory MPs elected in Quebec at the last election came from rural areas, and all of them came from outside the Greater Montreal Area. </p>
<p>In addition, a key issue for many Quebecers is decentralization and nationalism. Quebecers, regardless of their political colours, tend to be united by a common desire for the Federal Government to stay out of Quebec's internal affairs, and for Canada to recognize as Quebec as a nation. The Conservatives (both today and back during the PC days) have always been very good at this - the Tory coalition even today still consists of 3 main parts: Western Social Conservatives, old-fashioned Progressive Conservatives in Ontario and the Maritimes, and Quebec Nationalists. It is this coalition that swept Mulroney into power in the 1980s, and which helped Harper pull of a minority last year.</p>
<p>As to whether the referendum will pass this time, it's a bit up in the air. Harper's attempts at decentralization (the representation at UNESCO, his attempts to deal with Fiscal Imbalance) will help somewhat (if only to allow Charest and the Liberals to win another mandate). </p>
<p>However, there are still many other factors. My family did not run around waving signs saying "Tout ca devient possible" in 1995 (for those of you who don't get the reference, we voted Yes) because of decentralization; but rather because we believed that Independence would help improve Quebec and secure our national identity in North America and the world, now and in the future. I personally still believe that (the need to preserve our identity part, not the independence part so much), and my feeling tells me that if people vote yes at the next referendum, I believe they'll do it because of that reason, and not because they'll save a few dollars on their tax bill every year. </p>
<p>As to M. Bouchard, I agree that was a really convenient time to lose a leg (though I don't mean to make light of his illness). However, leg aside, he's still a really good orator, in both French and English. He could, I'm sure, convince people to do near anything. </p>
<p>mardou fox: Well, the first thing I think you should know about the French department is that it operates completely in French. All the courses, essays, and exams are given in French, and many of the students in the Department are either Francophones or Montreal Anglophones (many of whom are fluently bilingual) While you don't have to be a native speaker, it would be best if you do have a general level of comprehension of French (think AP French classes).</p>
<p><a href="http://www.arts.mcgill.ca/french/%5B/url%5D">http://www.arts.mcgill.ca/french/</a></p>
<p>The French as a Second Language teacher programme is a joint programme between McGill and the Universite de Montreal. You take courses at UdeM in the Fall and at McGill in the Winter.</p>
<p>thank you glendalais89 for your help! i think that if i'm accepted to mcgill (fingers crossed), i will give the french dept a shot. i'm in AP french now and i'm pretty strong in it. if i can't handle the french at mcgill, nothing is permanent. thanks again!</p>
<p>The post by glendalais89 is an excellent one, but let me add another perspective, one from outside Quebec. I've been traveling frequently to Montreal since the early 1970s and today I find tension over language to have largely abated. In short, the French language laws did what they were designed to do, although many Anglophones resented them, and the survival of French as the primary language of Quebec is no longer in question. </p>
<p>My French is quite limited, my wife is completely bilingual and my son, who just graduated from McGill, falls in the middle. In our own ways, each of us is completely comfortable getting around in all the neighborhoods in Montreal. The only time language became even a small problem for my son was when he played summer-league baseball and traveled to many smaller towns in Quebec.</p>
<p>However while McGill is an English-language institute, my son says that socially he did find it divided by language. The Francophone students tended to hang out together, as did the English speakers from Ontario. In his experience, Canadians from the western provinces and U.S. students didn't fall into either of those large blocs and so tended to socialize with each other. Generalizations, I know, but that was his overall impression of how language shaped his time in McGill and Montreal.</p>
<p>This language division within McGill varies a lot between departments (and over the years). Back in my days, all the honours physics people were Quebec francophones with their little clique, the other physics students were mixed, while the math undergrads mingled regardless of program, ethnicity or language...</p>
<p>All instruction, except for a few specific courses, at McGill is in English. Both English and French are official languages of Canada.<br>
When you walk into a shop you are greeted with Hello, Bon Jour.
If you answer "hello", you will be spoken to in English.
If you answer, "Bon Jour" , you will be spoken to in French.
Really, it is a terrific place to practice your French and/or English.
But should you only speak English, no worries, you will be fine.</p>
<p>I had to explain to my mother the whole "Bon Jour/Hello" thing. She liked to say Bon Jour to seem multicultural, so I had to explain why she should say hello unless she wants to be a bit embarrassed.</p>
<p>LOL! I am sure that my limited French has embarassed me many times with the Bon Jour / Hello greeting! Why must I always reply with Bon Jour?</p>